Simply Abu Dhabi XXX

S IMPLY T IME By Nick R ice PushingtheLimits R ichard Mille has a proven knack for creating commercial friendships with athletes at the top of their sport. Whether it’s golf, motorsport, tennis, sailing or skiing, the French maverick of the watch world forms lasting partnerships with a wide range of sports stars on their way to the top. Alexis Pinturault joined the Richard Mille family in January 2014, and his choice of watch from the extensive and extreme performance portfolio of watches was the RM 035 NTPT Ultimate Edition. Now the dynamic skier, who has won the Junior World Championships in Giant slalom twice and been on theWorld Cup podium 46 times, 21 of which were on the top step, has a new dedicated timepiece in the recently launched RM 67-02. Simply Abu Dhabi flew to the champion skier’s home turf in the stunning French Alps ski resort of Courchevel to see the unveiling of the new watch and to join him on the slopes. I met Alexis, still buoyant fromwinning bronze and silver medals at the Olympics in Pyeongchang, at the huge 5-star Hotel Annapurna owned by his father. This luxurious property in Courchevel 1850 faces south directly onto the slopes. It’s a stunning ski-in and ski-out hotel flanked by the majesty of the Alps, and it’s easy to see how Alexis was drawn to his sport. This is literally his own back yard. He was just two years old when he first skied on these slopes and by age six he’d joined the local club. ‘I started thanks to my parents. Since then, skiing has always been a big part of my life,’ he says. Richard Mille knows how to pick a winner. Nick Rice meets one of the brand’s most talented and ambitious ambassadors—double medallist of the 2018 Winter Olympics, the French-Norwegian alpine ski-racing superstar Alexis Pinturault.