Scott, Douglas, Rudge and Sunbeam. Excelsior, Velocette, Vincent and Ariel. All great British motorcycle marques that fell by the wayside after Japanese manufacturers emerged during the 1960s with fast, clean, good-looking machines that didn’t leak oil, didn’t break down and started and stopped when they were expected to. Thanks to them, the once world-leading British bike industry was all but dead and buried by the 1980s, never to be seen again.

Or so most of us thought. These days, some of the best-loved British models are bouncing back, their names revived to meet fresh demand for nostalgia-rich bikes with old-school styling and modern-day reliability that are marketed both as retro-cool lifestyle accessories and handy modes of transport. True, few remain British-owned, but plenty – Royal Enfield and Norton, for example – have significant facilities in the UK and much of the engineering and design is done there.

(Photo: Eric Corlay)

But perhaps the most remarkable story of a Brit-bike rebirth is that of the legendary Brough Superior. Engineer George Brough built his first powered two-wheeler in 1919 and soon established a reputation for making the “Rolls-Royce of motorcycles” with his SS80 and SS100 models, the cost of which had grown to the price of a small house by the mid-1920s.

But the Second World War brought Brough Superior’s motorcycle production to an end as it turned to military manufacturing. Coupled with material shortages and shrinking demand, the Brough Superior name was mothballed until 2008, when it was acquired by British entrepreneur Mark Upham. His plan was to restore the brand as a maker of Brough Superiors with a modern twist, thanks to the use of contemporary materials, computer-aided design and state-of-the-art construction.

(Photo: Eric Corlay)

Upham achieved his dream with the help of Toulouse-based engineering firm Boxer Design, whose owner, Thierry Henriette, took over the reborn firm in 2013 and has since expanded the line-up by adding one new model per year. All are “luxury” machines with price tags starting at around €60,000 and rising to the €240,000 of Brough Superior’s latest creation, a collaboration with avant-garde Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille.

The RMB01 is the first motorcycle to be designed from the ground up to reflect the engineering aesthetic of a specific watchmaker – and the result is more akin to a sci-fi movie than the Brough Superiors of the 1920s that were beloved of patrons such as writer George Bernard Shaw and adventurer and spy TE Lawrence.

(Photo: Lionel Beylot)

The RMB01 brims with details redolent of Richard Mille’s high-tech watches, with multipiece wheels designed to resemble a tourbillon cage and a chassis in the form of a carbon-fibre exoskeleton from which the 997cc, V-twin engine is suspended – much as skeletonised movements are suspended in Richard Mille watches. Shapes hollowed out from the forks and the swingarm refer directly to the brand’s lightweight cases, while the clutch cover echoes a distinctive Richard Mille winding crown, and the instruments mimic the view into one of the maker’s highly technical movements.

As well as featuring a similar array of oscillating speedo needles when the ignition is switched on, the instruments’ graphics are based on those found on a typical Richard Mille dial, while the binnacle is bordered by a carbon-fibre and titanium bezel featuring watch-like top-loading screws.

The RMB01 follows a previous collaboration with luxury car maker Aston Martin, with which Brough Superior created two limited-edition bikes: the AMB 001, a €100,000 turbocharged roadster built in 100 examples, and the track-only AMB 001 Pro, which was based on Aston’s Valkyrie hypercar.

(Photo: Eric Corlay)

Like the Pro, the RMB01 is a “track-only” model that was unashamedly designed “just for fun”. All the same, it only took a few laps of Spain’s Calafat race circuit to confirm that it may be a plaything, but it’s certainly no toy: handling, braking, cornering and acceleration are of true superbike standards, and the attention to engineering detail really shines through.

Being based in Toulouse – Europe’s aerospace manufacturing capital – Brough Superior has called on multiple small-scale manufacturers to supply aviation-grade components such as wheels and brake calipers, meaning that at least 50 per cent of the bike’s parts are made close to the Brough Superior factory.

“We go for ultimate quality,” says executive director Albert Castaigne. “And, like a Richard Mille watch, the price is therefore substantial.” A fact I was very careful to remember while riding around the Calafat track.