Watch Paparazzi

Pilot Felipe Massa spotted wearing Richard Mille

Felipe Massa, the Brazilian Formula One veteran and former Ferrari frontman, was recently photographed wearing the Richard Mille RM 55 Bubba Watson — a high-complication tourbillon that sits firmly at the intersection of material science and mechanical watchmaking. The sighting is entirely in keeping with Massa's long relationship with the Geneva-based manufacture, one that dates back to his peak years on the F1 grid.

The Richard Mille RM 55 Bubba Watson centres on a hand-wound tourbillon movement, calibre RM55, featuring a variable geometry rotor and a free-sprung balance wheel with variable inertia. The baseplate and bridges are machined from white ATZ ceramic — aluminium oxide-based zirconium — a material selected for its exceptional hardness, resistance to scratching and near-zero magnetic susceptibility. The tonneau-shaped case echoes the wider RM family aesthetic while the skeletonised dial exposes the movement architecture in full. Water resistance is rated to 50 metres.

The RM 55 was conceived in collaboration with Bubba Watson, the left-handed PGA Tour star, and designed to withstand the extreme centrifugal forces generated during a golf swing — forces that can exceed 100G at impact. Richard Mille subjected the movement to extensive shock and vibration testing to validate this claim, a methodology the brand has applied across its sporting partnerships from F1 to tennis. The white ceramic references Watson's trademark white golf glove and immediately distinguishes the RM 55 from the more commonly seen carbon and titanium variants in the RM lineup.

For Massa, the choice reads as entirely natural. Richard Mille has been embedded in Formula One culture for over two decades, and Massa wore RM pieces during his active racing career, including famously during his near-fatal 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix accident — an incident that inadvertently demonstrated the watches' structural resilience under extreme conditions.

On the secondary market, the Richard Mille RM 55 Bubba Watson commands significant premiums over its already substantial retail price, with well-documented examples trading between $150,000 and $200,000 depending on condition, papers and provenance. Production volumes remain tightly controlled, sustaining collector demand. For serious buyers, authorised dealer allocation is effectively non-existent, making the grey market the principal point of access.