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Footballer Robin Van Persie spotted wearing Richard Mille

Robin Van Persie, Manchester United's prolific Dutch striker who famously delivered the Premier League title to Old Trafford in 2012–13 with a hat-trick against Southampton, was photographed wearing a Richard Mille RM010 in grade 5 titanium, reference Ti 509.45.91. The sighting places him squarely within the professional footballer cohort that Richard Mille cultivated with considerable intent throughout the 2010s.

The Richard Mille RM010 occupies a pivotal place in the brand's catalog as its inaugural automatic winding wristwatch. Launched in the mid-2000s, it introduced calibre RMUL1 — a skeletonized, automatic movement built on a multi-layer baseplate and bridge architecture derived directly from the brand's manual-wind RM001. The movement runs at 28,800 vph, offers approximately 55 hours of power reserve, and exposes virtually every component to the eye through the sapphire crystal caseback and open dial. The grade 5 titanium case measures 48mm × 39.7mm × 12.85mm, keeping weight dramatically low despite the substantial footprint — a deliberate nod to ergonomic comfort during physical activity.

Among collectors, the RM010 titanium references are regarded as honest entry points into early Richard Mille ownership. They lack the extreme material statements of later ceramic or Carbon TPT editions, but they carry the full mechanical DNA of the RM philosophy: tonneau architecture, spline screws, a torque-limited crown, and a movement designed to withstand gravitational and shock stress. The Ti 509.45.91 designation indicates a full titanium configuration without a rubber strap upgrade or precious stone setting, making it one of the cleaner, more technically focused executions in the line.

Van Persie's choice reflects a pattern consistent with elite European footballers of the era. Richard Mille aggressively courted high-profile athletes, and the RM010's combination of visual drama and genuine engineering credentials resonated with players accustomed to performance-engineered equipment. For Van Persie, a player defined by technical precision — most memorably that left-footed volley — the watch reads as a considered choice rather than a purely decorative one.

On the secondary market, the Richard Mille RM010 in titanium typically trades between $60,000 and $80,000 USD depending on condition, papers, and box completeness, sitting comfortably above its original retail price and reflecting sustained collector demand for early-catalog RM references.