Watch Paparazzi

Rapper Timati spotted wearing Richard Mille

Russian rapper, entrepreneur, and social media powerhouse Timati was recently photographed sporting a Richard Mille RM 35-02 Rafael Nadal in Red Carbon TPT — a piece that stops watch collectors cold regardless of the context it appears in. The sighting aligns with Timati's well-documented appetite for timepieces that communicate both extreme luxury and technical substance.

The Richard Mille RM 35-02 was developed in close partnership with Rafael Nadal and represents the evolution of the RM 035, refined for even greater resilience and wearing comfort on court. At its core sits the RMAL1 caliber, an automatic movement with a variable geometry rotor, free-sprung balance wheel with variable inertia, and a skeletonized architecture that reduces overall weight without compromising structural integrity. The power reserve sits at approximately 55 hours, and the movement operates at 28,800 vph. The case measures 49.94 x 44.50 mm — substantial but genuinely lightweight thanks to its composite construction.

The defining element of this reference is the Red Carbon TPT case. Carbon TPT — Thin Ply Technology — involves stacking hundreds of carbon fiber filaments at alternating 45-degree angles, then infusing them with a red-tinted resin under heat and pressure. Each resulting case is entirely unique in its surface pattern, no two identical. The material was borrowed directly from motorsport and aerospace engineering, offering a tensile strength that conventional metals cannot match at equivalent weight. It is the kind of material specification that justifies Richard Mille's positioning at the extreme end of horological engineering.

Timati has consistently demonstrated that his watch choices are deliberate. The Russian market has historically been one of Richard Mille's most enthusiastic, and Timati occupies a cultural position — musician, fashion label founder, restaurateur — that maps naturally onto the RM 35-02's blend of athletic credibility and ostentatious rarity. This is not a watch worn for subtlety.

On the market, the Richard Mille RM 35-02 Red Carbon TPT commands serious premiums. List price runs approximately $175,000, but grey-market and auction results have consistently pushed the piece to around $425,000, reflecting both the Nadal association and the enduring scarcity of Carbon TPT references in collector circulation.