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Pilot Charles Leclerc spotted wearing Richard Mille

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari's lead driver and one of Formula 1's most prominent watch ambassadors, was recently photographed wearing a Richard Mille RM 35-02 Rafael Nadal — a timepiece that, much like Leclerc himself, operates at the absolute limit of what engineering can achieve under pressure.

The Richard Mille RM 35-02 debuted in 2016 as the direct evolution of the RM 035, itself famously nicknamed the 'Baby Nadal' after the Spanish tennis champion first wore it on court. The RM 35-02 retains the skeletonized, tonneau-shaped architecture but upgrades the movement to the in-house RMAL1 caliber — an automatic with variable-geometry rotor, free-sprung balance with adjustable weights, and a function selector that allows the wearer to switch between winding, neutral, and hand-setting modes without risk of damage. The baseplate and bridges are machined from grade 5 titanium, keeping the entire movement structure extraordinarily rigid yet light.

The case itself is the signature story. Richard Mille constructs the RM 35-02 from NTPT Carbon — North Thin Ply Technology carbon — a material originally developed for America's Cup racing yachts. Comprised of hundreds of carbon-fiber filaments laid at 45-degree angles and compressed under heat and pressure, each NTPT Carbon case carries a completely unique marbled surface pattern. Total case weight sits below 33 grams. Water resistance is rated to 50 meters, remarkable given the skeletonized dial visible through the sapphire crystal exhibition caseback.

Collector interest in the RM 35-02 Rafael Nadal has remained consistently strong since its release. The Nadal collaboration series carries genuine sporting provenance — Nadal wore early iterations of the RM 035 during match play, subjecting the watch to G-forces that would destroy conventional timepieces. That authenticity, combined with Richard Mille's strictly limited production runs, keeps secondary market demand well above retail.

Leclerc's connection to Richard Mille is well-established within motorsport circles, making the RM 35-02 a natural fit — two worlds of extreme performance sharing the same wrist. With a retail price of approximately $150,000 and grey-market values regularly reaching $250,000, the Richard Mille RM 35-02 Rafael Nadal is as much a financial asset as it is a mechanical achievement.