Entrepreneur Acun Ilicali spotted wearing a Richard Mille

Acun Ilicali, the Turkish entrepreneur whose media empire spans multiple television channels and whose influence in global entertainment earned him a place on Variety's prestigious top-500 list in 2018, was recently spotted wearing a 43mm Richard Mille RM 35-01 Rafael Nadal with a black skeletonized dial and carbon bezel. The sighting underscores the watch's enduring currency among high-profile collectors who demand both technical credibility and unmistakable wrist presence.

The Richard Mille RM 35-01 was developed in close collaboration with Rafael Nadal and first introduced in 2013 as a more accessible point of entry into the brand's sport-oriented Rafael Nadal collection, which traces its origins to the landmark RM 027 of 2010. The case is constructed from NTPT Carbon — a proprietary material composed of parallel carbon filament layers each 45 micrometers thick, fused under high pressure to create a structure of exceptional rigidity and distinctive moire patterning. The result is a 43mm case that weighs barely 20 grams complete, yet resists shocks far beyond what any conventional metal case could tolerate.

Beneath the black skeletonized dial, the RM 35-01 houses the manually wound calibre RMAL1, a movement developed with movement specialist Audemars Piguet Le Locle and equipped with a variable-inertia balance wheel, a fast-rotating barrel, and a free-sprung balance for improved rate stability. Power reserve sits at approximately 55 hours. The open architecture of the movement is not merely aesthetic; every bridge and plate has been machined to minimum viable thickness, directly contributing to the watch's near-weightless character on the wrist.

For collectors, the RM 35-01 occupies a specific and well-understood position within the Richard Mille hierarchy. It delivers the brand's core NTPT Carbon construction and skeletonized movement philosophy at a lower price point than the ultra-limited Nadal tournament editions, making it the most attainable expression of that lineage. Demand consistently outpaces supply through official channels, and the reference has held grey-market premiums well above retail for several consecutive years.

Ilicali's choice reads as entirely coherent. A businessman who has accumulated over a thousand industry awards and reshaped Turkish television carries a watch that is simultaneously a feat of applied engineering and a recognizable symbol of serious collecting. The Richard Mille RM 35-01 Rafael Nadal retails from approximately $170,000 USD, with grey-market values running notably higher depending on configuration and provenance.