Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spotted wearing Richard Mille

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made headlines on the pitch and off it when he arrived for his FC Barcelona medical examinations wearing a Richard Mille RM030 that belongs firmly in the haute joaillerie category. The setting — FC Barcelona's medical facilities — added an almost surreal contrast between clinical routine and a wrist adorned with one of the more extravagant configurations of an already exclusive reference.

The Richard Mille RM030 was introduced as the manufacture's flagship automatic complication, built around the calibre RMAS7, a skeletonised automatic winding movement beating at 28,800 vph. Beyond hours and minutes, the RM030 delivers a running seconds display, an oversized date at 12 o'clock, and a linear power reserve indicator — a combination that demands significant movement architecture and finishing discipline. The variable geometry rotor, a signature RM engineering detail, allows winding efficiency to be adjusted based on the wearer's activity level, making it genuinely functional for an elite athlete.

Aubameyang's specific example takes the RM030 reference to its most precious extreme. The case architecture, which blends 18k white gold and titanium for structural rigidity without excessive mass, is entirely pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds across the main surfaces, while the case edges receive brilliant-cut black sapphires — a chromatic contrast that gives the piece a harder, more architectural edge than an all-diamond treatment would produce. The result is a watch that straddles the boundary between complications horology and high jewellery without fully conceding to either category.

Aubameyang has long been one of football's most serious Richard Mille collectors, appearing regularly with RM pieces throughout his career at Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, and beyond. His taste runs toward the more theatrical end of the catalogue, and this jewellery-grade RM030 is consistent with that established profile.

At a retail price of $205,750, the diamond and black sapphire RM030 already sits in rarefied territory. On the secondary market, however, demand for jewellery-set Richard Mille references — particularly in white gold with full pavé treatment — has pushed prices to approximately $325,000, a premium of nearly 60 percent over list. For collectors, the combination of a genuine mechanical complication with investment-grade stone setting continues to underwrite that gap.