Watch Paparazzi

Royal Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi spotted wearing Richard Mille

Crown Prince of Ajman Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi was recently photographed wearing a Richard Mille RM27-03 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal on a red rubber strap — one of only 50 examples ever made. The sighting, shared via the Sheikh's Instagram presence, places one of the rarest wristwatches in contemporary horology squarely in the public eye.

The Richard Mille RM27-03 was developed in close collaboration with Rafael Nadal and introduced in 2017 as the third dedicated Nadal tourbillon from the Swiss-French manufacture. Its defining engineering achievement is a cable-suspended movement architecture: the manually wound tourbillon calibre RM27-03 is held within the case by a system of braided steel cables tensioned to 6kg each, absorbing shock loads validated at up to 10,000g. The skeletonised baseplate is constructed from grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT, while the case itself combines Quartz TPT and Carbon TPT layers — a construction that brings total weight to approximately 19 grams including the strap. Power reserve stands at approximately 70 hours.

From a collector standpoint, the RM27-03 occupies rare ground even within Richard Mille's own catalogue. The 50-piece limitation is strictly observed, and the Nadal tourbillon series — RM27-01 through RM27-04 — commands a dedicated following among serious collectors who regard the shock-resistance engineering as genuinely novel rather than marketing narrative. The red strap variant reinforces the tennis provenance, echoing the clay courts of Roland Garros where Nadal has been synonymous with excellence.

Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi serves as Crown Prince of Ajman, one of the seven emirates of the UAE, and has cultivated a visible profile in the region's luxury and cultural circles. His choice of the RM27-03 is consistent with the watch's profile among Gulf royalty and high-net-worth collectors who gravitate toward Richard Mille's technically uncompromising limited editions.

On the market, the Richard Mille RM27-03 carries a UK list price of £560,000. In grey-market and auction contexts, examples have consistently traded above retail, reflecting both the 50-piece scarcity and sustained demand from collectors who view the Nadal collaboration series as a cornerstone of the modern Richard Mille canon. Authenticated examples in unworn condition command a meaningful premium.