Following the announcement earlier this week that Jamaican sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has inked a multi-year deal with luxury watch brand Richard Mille, there has been a lot of excitement about the significance of the endorsement.

The Richard Mille brand has become synonymous for high-performance quality, style and exclusivity.

The luxury watch brand is also well-known for having multiple sports stars on its endorsement list and is a coveted timepiece for many A-list celebrities.

Richard Mille has achieved its reputation in a relatively short time, having launched its first watch in 2001. In a little over 20 years, the luxury brand has built a solid reputation of craftsmanship and appeal and has gone on to become one of the biggest, most recognisable luxury brands in the world.

After years of working in horology and getting top managerial roles in exclusive watch companies in his native France, the eventual mogul would branch out on his own and started Richard Mille SA in 1999.

It would take the company two years to launch its first signature watch, but it was well worth the wait. Heralded as a “racing machine on the wrist”, the RM 001 was ahead of its time with the time piece sitting on a leveraged bridge of carbon nanofiber, which was unheard of in watch-making at the time.

The Frenchman then followed up his ground-breaking design with exclusivity, only making 17 units of the RM 001.

High-tech materials in construction became one of Mille’s hallmarks and in addition to titanium, carbon fiber and ceramics, Richard Mille has also developed its own proprietary materials, such as Graph TPT and Quartz TPT, which are composed of layers of carbon fiber or quartz, respectively. These materials are incredibly strong and lightweight, and require specialised manufacturing techniques to produce. It became clear that high-tech materials, plus rarity, would be Mille’s signature combination.

The luxury watch maker only builds a limited amount of each unit per year, making access to them very limited, which enhances exclusivity and makes for the ownership of a Richard Mille timepiece rarified accomplishment.

His use of shock resistant and lightweight materials that are akin to those in F1 cars and has led to natural collaboration with many F1 drivers over the years, starting with legend Felipe Massa. In fact, Massa was famous for wearing the RM 006 during his races and during his crash in the Hungarian Grand Prix, both driver and watch survived, cementing Mille’s product as efficient, high-performing and as durable as a race car.

This high-performance watch brand is now an official sponsor of Ferrari driver Charles LeClerc, as well as both Ferarri and McClaren’s F1 teams.

He also has other famous sports stars such as Rafael Nadal, who wore his RM 027 during his championship run in the US Open in 2010.

Other notable collaborations have been with Hollywood stars Natalie Portman, with the RM 19-01; and Michelle Yeoh, the RM 051.

But Mille’s craft hasn’t just been acknowledged by famous names alone. In 2007, he became a member of the Foundation de la Haute Horlogerie, before winning the Aiuguille d’Or award – the most coveted accolade in the world of horology – later that year.

Today, Mille is best know for being the man behind the legendary luxury brand that still focuses on performance, technology and opulence.

And Fraser-Pryce now joins a long, impressive list of icons who have become a part of the Richard Mille family. She sports the RM 07-04, an ode to the brand’s iconic look and style.

“Shelly-Ann is not only a World Champion,” says Amanda Mille, brand and partnerships director of Richard Mille. “She is a strong woman who combines this with being a mother. As if that wasn’t already enough, she finds the energy for her charity work and this all-round commitment totally reflects our values.”

The Mille-Fraser-Pryce combination is another championship move that proves the brand’s commitment to sustainability and high performance, balanced with style and exclusivity – characteristics that are also fitting of the Jamaican sprint icon.