Entrepreneur Steven Zhang spotted wearing a Richard Mille

Steven Zhang, chairman of Serie A club Inter Milan, was spotted on the front row of the Gucci Fashion Show in Milan wearing one of the most recognizable — and rarest — watches in Richard Mille's catalogue: the black ceramic RM52-01 Skull Tourbillon, limited to just 30 pieces worldwide.

The Richard Mille RM52-01 debuted as a provocative statement within an already provocative brand. Its centerpiece is a three-dimensional skull crafted from grade-5 titanium, positioned prominently on the dial and integrated into the architecture of the skeletonized movement. The manual-winding caliber RM52-01 beats at 21,600 vph and offers a power reserve of approximately 48 hours. The tourbillon cage — Richard Mille's signature complication since the RM001 — rotates once per minute and is visible in full through the open-worked construction. The black ceramic case, machined from NTPT carbon composite in some variants and sintered ceramic in others, measures 50mm × 42.7mm and sits just 20mm thick, a substantial presence on the wrist that announces itself without apology.

The RM52-01 occupies a specific and coveted position within Richard Mille's secondary market. The skull motif, divisive at launch, has aged into collector legitimacy — the memento mori theme, executed with genuine movement integration rather than applied decoration, gives the piece a conceptual coherence that pure novelty watches rarely achieve. With only 30 examples in black ceramic produced, secondary market liquidity is extremely limited, which typically amplifies price appreciation among the handful of collectors who can access one.

Zhang, son of Suning Holdings founder Zhang Jindong, has been a visible presence in European luxury and football circles since taking Inter Milan's chairmanship in 2019. His choice of the RM52-01 at a Gucci show in Milan — effectively the intersection of sport ownership, fashion money, and Chinese business elite culture — is consistent with Richard Mille's deliberate positioning at exactly that crossroads.

At UK list price of approximately £530,000, the black ceramic RM52-01 Skull Tourbillon already commands one of the highest retail price points in the Richard Mille lineup outside bespoke commissions. On the grey market, scarcity and the skull's growing collector cachet push realized prices considerably beyond retail — a pattern consistent across Richard Mille's most restricted references.