Mille's

Watching Alexei Ratmansky's masterly and provocative comic ballet "The Bright Stream," a remake of a 1935 production that American Ballet Theatre performed this weekend at the Kennedy Center Opera House, I was struck by the similarities to de Mille's landmark hits of a few years later.

A 'Bright Stream' to channel fun Sarah Kaufman 2011

In September, Mille's rolling out the RM038 Bubba Watson, named for the professional golfer, also for $525,000.

For the wealthy, a return to luxury spending 2011

De Mille's silent film of "Carmen" - or they played opera singers, whether affable (the teddy-bear Danish tenor Lauritz Melchior) or regal (Wilhelmenia Fernandez in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 film "Diva").

Sure, they can sing (opera), but can they act? 2011

It may be ostentatious driving a new luxury car in your neighborhood or around co-workers, but a guy across the room wouldn't know what this watch is, says Dominique Gerente, Mille's marketing chief for North and South America.

For the wealthy, a return to luxury spending 2011

Mille's most popular watches now cost between $50,000 and $90,000.

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010

Who wouldn't want to boast that the aluminum silicon carbide AlSiC case for his $349,000 RM 009 proved so tough to cut that it destroyed Mille's drills?

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010

Mille's customers are happy to pay a premium for anecdotes like that, and the years have proven that if Mille builds it, they will buy.

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010

Mille's boys include such luminaries as King Juan Carlos, rapper and impresario Jay-Z, swashbuckling soccer coach José Mourinho, and former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt, who's a buddy of Mille's.

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010

If NASA shacked up with Formula 1, Mille's watches would be their love children.

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010

Mille's daring debut of the RM 001 -- at almost twice the price of the next most expensive tourbillon -- put him on the map in 2001.

The Edge of Time Joshua Levine 2010