Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Mesut Özil spotted wearing Richard Mille

Mesut Özil has long cultivated a reputation as one of football's most serious watch collectors, and his latest sighting confirms that standing without question. The former Arsenal and Real Madrid playmaker was photographed wearing the Richard Mille RM 027 Tourbillon, the debut release from the brand's now-legendary partnership with tennis champion Rafael Nadal, a watch that changed the industry's understanding of what a luxury tourbillon could physically be.

Launched in 2010, the RM 027 was an exercise in radical weight reduction that the broader industry simply had no answer for. The entire watch — case, movement, and strap combined — tips the scales at just 20 grams. The tourbillon cage itself weighs a staggering 3.38 grams, a figure that demanded the use of grade-5 titanium and LITAL alloy, a proprietary lithium-aluminium compound developed in aerospace engineering. The movement, Calibre RM027, beats at 21,600 vph and delivers a 70-hour power reserve, all while surviving the physical punishment of a professional tennis match on Nadal's wrist at Roland-Garros. That was not a marketing claim — Nadal actually competed wearing it.

From a collector's standpoint, the RM 027 first edition occupies rare ground. Limited to just 50 pieces at an official retail price of $525,000, the watch was never truly accessible even at launch. It represents Richard Mille at the intersection of sport, haute horlogerie, and materials science — the three pillars the Le Locle-based brand has built its entire identity upon. Early Nadal-series references, and the RM 027 in particular, have become benchmark pieces that define the brand's most ambitious chapter.

Özil's affinity for Richard Mille is well documented, but choosing the RM 027 over flashier, more visible models speaks to genuine connoisseurship. This is not a watch you wear for spectacle alone — it demands context and knowledge to appreciate.

On the secondary market, a first-edition RM 027 in unworn condition commands substantial premiums above its already formidable retail price, with auction results and grey-market listings reflecting the watch's scarcity and cultural weight within serious Richard Mille collecting circles.