Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Khaldoon Al Mubarak spotted wearing Richard Mille

Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the Abu Dhabi executive and Manchester City FC Chairman whose influence extends well beyond the football boardroom, was recently spotted wearing one of Richard Mille's most storied sports collaborations — the RM 035, known widely in collector circles as the 'Baby Nadal.' The sighting, captured in a football context consistent with Al Mubarak's prominent role at the City Football Group, places one of the Middle East's most powerful sports executives firmly in the upper tier of serious watch collecting.

Richard Mille introduced the RM 035 as a direct evolution of the landmark RM 027, the tourbillon Rafael Nadal famously wore while winning Roland Garros. Stripped of the tourbillon to bring costs closer to earth while preserving the engineering philosophy, the RM 035 houses the in-house CRMA1 manual-winding calibre — a skeletonised movement built around a grade 5 titanium and aluminium free-sprung balance wheel, delivering approximately 55 hours of power reserve. The case, typically rendered in Carbon TPT or NTPT carbon composite, measures 49.94mm × 42.7mm and tips the scale at a remarkable 19 grams complete with strap. That figure is not marketing language — it is a genuine feat of materials engineering.

The RM 035 occupies a fascinating position in the Richard Mille catalogue. It offered Nadal-associated provenance without the seven-figure ask of the RM 027 tourbillon, making it the entry point into the brand's tennis legacy for collectors who still needed to write a very significant cheque. Its NTPT carbon case — produced by North Thin Ply Technology in Switzerland using hundreds of layers of carbon filament rotated at 45-degree intervals — gives each watch a completely unique surface pattern, guaranteeing individual identity at scale.

Al Mubarak's choice is consistent with the profile of the watch's natural owner: high-achieving, sport-adjacent, and disinclined toward conventional luxury signalling. A Richard Mille RM 035 communicates technical seriousness rather than mere wealth, which aligns with the image Al Mubarak projects in his dual role overseeing both state policy and elite-sport investment.

On the secondary market the RM 035 has held value with the quiet confidence typical of discontinued Richard Mille references. With an original UK RRP in the region of £78,000, grey-market examples in unworn condition have consistently traded above retail, often reaching into the $110,000–$130,000 range depending on variant and provenance — a reminder that in Richard Mille's world, the waitlist and the grey market tell very different stories.