Royal Abdul Malik spotted wearing a Richard Mille

Prince Abdul Malik, third son of Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and a figure regularly sighted at the intersection of royalty and serious watch collecting, has been spotted wearing the Richard Mille RM 030 'Black Dash' — a 43mm automatic that represents one of the more technically substantive references in the brand's catalogue. The 37-year-old prince's choice is not merely decorative; the RM 030 carries genuine engineering credentials that distinguish it from more aesthetically driven Richard Mille releases.

Introduced as Richard Mille's first automatic winding model, the RM 030 debuted with a variable-geometry rotor — a skeletonized oscillating weight that can be adjusted to three positions depending on the wearer's activity level, optimising winding efficiency without sacrificing the open-worked aesthetic. The calibre RMAC2 operates at 28,800 vph with a power reserve of approximately 55 hours. The 'Black Dash' variant, unveiled at the 2015 Only Watch-adjacent events and formally presented in Mexico City that same year, takes the base architecture and applies a distinctly aggressive material palette: a sandblasted black ceramic bezel paired with a caseband machined from NTPT carbon.

NTPT — North Thin Ply Technology — is the material detail that separates serious collectors from casual observers. Originally developed for America's Cup racing yachts, it is constructed from over 600 layers of carbon filaments pre-impregnated with resin, laid at 45-degree offsets and compressed under heat. Each resulting case is structurally unique, with an unrepeatable grain pattern. Combined with the ceramic bezel and the skeletonized dial featuring white, red and black contrasting accents with Arabic numerals, the 'Black Dash' achieves both visual drama and measurable technical purpose.

For the Brunei royal family, Richard Mille occupies a familiar position in the watch cabinet. Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah himself is among the most documented watch collectors in the world, with a collection spanning Royal Oak Tourbillons to one-of-a-kind Patek Philippe commissions. Abdul Malik's RM 030 'Black Dash' suggests the next generation shares that instinct for technically rigorous, materially uncompromising horology.

At a retail price of $140,000, the RM 030 'Black Dash' sits in the mid-range of Richard Mille's sprawling catalogue but commands strong attention on the secondary market, where NTPT carbon references consistently hold value due to limited production volumes and the material's inherent scarcity. For collectors watching the grey market, this reference rarely stays available long.