Royal Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani spotted wearing a Richard Mille

Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatar Olympic Committee president and younger brother of the ruling Emir, has long operated in the upper tier of serious watch collecting. His latest sighting places the Richard Mille RM 38-02 Tourbillon on his wrist — a piece so limited and so technically demanding that fewer than 50 individuals on earth own one.

The RM 38-02 is built around Richard Mille's signature skeletonized tonneau case, here rendered in Pink and White Carbon TPT — a proprietary material produced by layering filaments of quartz fiber at 45-degree angles, then infusing them with resin under controlled conditions. The pink and white color gradients emerge naturally from the manufacturing process, meaning no two cases are visually identical. The manual-winding movement features a tourbillon with a variable-geometry rotor, a system originally developed in collaboration with Watson to absorb the shock forces generated by a golf swing — forces Richard Mille measured at over 1,000 Gs at the point of impact. The caliber RM 38-02 incorporates a torque-control system and a dedicated overcoil spring to protect the tourbillon cage during the violent dynamics of athletic motion.

From a collector standpoint, the RM 38-02 occupies a unique position. Richard Mille's Bubba Watson series — spanning RM 38-01, RM 38-02, and the broader Watson collaboration lineage — has proven to be among the brand's most sought-after limited runs. The combination of a named athlete edition, a production cap of 50 units, and technically innovative case materials creates a scarcity profile that drives significant secondary market premiums. The Carbon TPT family as a whole has established a strong resale floor.

Sheikh Joaan is no casual watch wearer. The Qatari royal has been photographed in multiple Richard Mille references over the years and clearly gravitates toward the brand's most extreme technical and material expressions. Wearing the RM 38-02 signals genuine engagement with the piece's backstory rather than mere conspicuous consumption.

At a list price of approximately $980,000, the Richard Mille RM 38-02 sits at the apex of the brand's sport-oriented catalog. On the grey market, completed examples have traded above list given the 50-piece ceiling, with demand consistently outpacing supply. Expect that dynamic to hold.