Watch Paparazzi

Artist Romero Britto spotted wearing Richard Mille

Romero Britto, the Miami-based pop artist whose kaleidoscopic canvases hang in collections from Beverly Hills to Dubai, was recently spotted on the wrist side of one of the most talked-about — and least publicly shown — Richard Mille references in existence: the RM 69 Erotic Tourbillon. For a man whose entire artistic identity is built around color, energy, and cheerful transgression, the choice of watch is almost unnervingly coherent.

The Richard Mille RM 69 debuted in 2014 and immediately polarized the collector world. Its titanium case measures 50.15 mm × 42.70 mm × 16.35 mm, sitting within the brand's signature tonneau architecture. The movement — calibre RM69 — is a manual-winding tourbillon beating at 21,600 vph with a 48-hour power reserve. What makes it genuinely singular is its 'erotic automaton' complication: a secondary drum mechanism, operated by a dedicated pusher, cycles through 35 explicit romantic phrases displayed across the dial in bold, capital lettering. The watchmaking execution behind that scrolling text mechanism is, whatever one thinks of the content, technically intricate — coordinating a tourbillon with an independent automaton system inside a 16 mm case height is no small achievement.

Production was strictly limited to 30 pieces worldwide, and Richard Mille has never officially confirmed how many remain in private hands versus institutional or brand ownership. That scarcity, combined with the watch's inherently controversial subject matter, has made it one of the most discussed references in modern horology — rarely photographed on an actual wrist in public settings. Britto's sighting is, by that measure, genuinely rare documentation.

Britto's artistic universe — bold outlines, vivid primaries, figures locked in perpetual optimism — shares more aesthetic DNA with Richard Mille's refusal of convention than might be immediately obvious. Both operate in spaces where luxury and provocation coexist without apology. The artist has long been associated with high-profile philanthropic work and celebrity clientele, and his taste in watches reflects a collector who selects for narrative and rarity over conservative status signaling.

At a UK list price of approximately £600,000, the RM 69 Erotic Tourbillon sits among the most expensive wristwatches Richard Mille has ever offered at retail. On the secondary market, the combination of a 30-piece production run, an unrepeatable complication concept, and near-zero public availability has pushed grey-market valuations significantly beyond list — when examples surface at all.