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Footballer İlkay Gündoğan spotted wearing Richard Mille

İlkay Gündoğan, the decorated German midfielder and former captain of Manchester City, was photographed at Ferrari World Yas Island in Abu Dhabi wearing a Richard Mille RM 010 UAE Edition in titanium paired with a slate-grey Velcro strap. The sighting, shared by Gündoğan himself, captures the footballer alongside his son Kaïs against the backdrop of the luxury Ferrari-branded theme park. The Richard Mille RM 010 UAE Edition has become a symbol of prestige among Gulf-based collectors and the international elite, particularly those with ties to Manchester City's ownership structure.

The Richard Mille RM 010 is the brand's second-generation automatic skeletonised sports watch, powered by the in-house Vaucher-made calibre RMAS7. Unlike its tourbillon-equipped predecessors, this movement forgoes a traditional escapement platform in favour of maximum openworking, with the baseplate and bridges rendered entirely in grade 5 titanium—matching the 42mm × 13.6mm tonneau case. The dial exhibits extreme skeletonisation, exposing the mechanical architecture beneath; the UAE Edition variant elevates this aesthetic further through elongated Eastern Arabic numerals in place of conventional markers, a transformation that fundamentally alters the watch's visual identity. Water resistance stands at 100 metres, typical for Richard Mille sports references of this generation.

The UAE Edition represents a special 2016 commission, reportedly by the Emirati royal family—potentially Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Manchester City's majority owner—for presentation to select friends and associates. This exclusivity severely limits production numbers and has made the reference highly sought after. The colour palette draws directly from the flag of the United Arab Emirates: green applied to the signature and lume pip, red tipping the seconds hand and the rubber crown grip, and black PVD coating on movement components. These aesthetic choices signal its bespoke provenance and distinguish it decisively from standard RM 010 variants.

Gündoğan's association with this timepiece reinforces Richard Mille's entrenched position within Manchester City's orbit. The brand formalised its partnership with the club in 2012, following their first Premier League title, and has maintained close ties with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak. For Gündoğan—who won the Continental Treble with City in 2023 and now plays for Galatasaray—the RM 010 UAE Edition functions as both a collector's trophy and a tangible memento of his years in Manchester's ecosystem.

The RM 010 UAE Edition rarely appears on the secondary market, and when examples do surface, they command substantial premiums over standard RM 010 variants. Grey-market pricing for comparable skeletonised Richard Mille sports models typically ranges from 80,000 to 150,000 USD, with the UAE Edition's rarity and provenance likely positioning it at the upper boundary. Official Richard Mille retail pricing for RM 010 references has historically sat between 50,000 and 80,000 USD depending on specification, though the UAE Edition was never offered through conventional channels.