Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Adel Ali Bin Ali spotted wearing Richard Mille

Adel Ali Bin Ali, chairman of Ali Bin Ali Holding — the Doha-based conglomerate with interests spanning luxury retail, healthcare, and hospitality — was recently seen wearing one of the watch world's most consequential limited editions: the Richard Mille RM 38-02 Tourbillon Bubba Watson, a 50-piece run retailing at $980,000 USD.

The RM 38-02 represents the third chapter in Richard Mille's long-running collaboration with American professional golfer Bubba Watson, who famously wore Richard Mille timepieces on the PGA Tour. This iteration refines the relationship between extreme materials science and haute horology. The case architecture deploys Quartz TPT — a composite of silicon dioxide filaments layered at 45-micron intervals — in white and pink hues for both the bezel and the case back, creating a visual texture that is unique to each individual watch. No two pieces look identical, a compelling argument at any price point, let alone at this stratospheric level.

At the movement level, the RM 38-02 houses a manual-winding tourbillon calibre engineered to withstand the shock forces generated during a golf swing — measured at upwards of 1,500g. Richard Mille and its movement partner developed a specific inertia block and regulator system to maintain chronometric integrity under those conditions. The baseplate and bridges are executed in grade 5 titanium, keeping overall weight minimal while delivering structural resilience. The skeletonised dial offers unobstructed visibility of the tourbillon cage in motion.

From a collector standpoint, the Bubba Watson RM 38-02 occupies rarified territory. The 50-piece production ceiling, combined with the highly specific and technically demanding Quartz TPT application, ensures that secondary market liquidity remains tight. Richard Mille's sports collaborations — particularly Watson's — have historically commanded strong grey market premiums, and this reference is no exception given its position as the culmination of the trilogy.

For Ali Bin Ali, a figure embedded in the luxury goods ecosystem across the Gulf region, the choice of the RM 38-02 reads as more than conspicuous consumption — it reflects an informed appreciation for Richard Mille's intersection of motorsport-derived engineering and watchmaking craft. At $980,000 retail, this is one of the highest-priced references the brand has produced, and seeing it on the wrist of a Gulf business leader underscores how firmly Richard Mille has established itself as the prestige marker of choice among the global entrepreneurial class.