Watch Paparazzi

Politician Turki Al-Sheikh spotted wearing Richard Mille

Saudi Sports Minister Turki Al-Sheikh was recently photographed wearing the Richard Mille RM 50-02 ACJ Tourbillon, one of the most technically ambitious and numerically scarce watches the Geneva-based manufacture has ever released. With only 30 examples produced in partnership with Airbus Corporate Jets, the RM 50-02 occupies rare air even within Richard Mille's already rarefied catalogue.

The RM 50-02 ACJ is built around a manually wound calibre RMAC2, a movement combining a tourbillon regulator with a split-seconds chronograph — two of the most demanding complications in traditional watchmaking, here executed in a case constructed from grade-5 titanium paired with Carbon TPT, the layered carbon composite that Richard Mille pioneered for wristwatches. The case measures 42.7 x 49.9 mm and achieves water resistance to 50 metres despite its skeletal architecture. Power reserve sits at approximately 70 hours. The movement bridges and baseplate draw direct inspiration from aircraft structural components, a collaboration that extended well beyond cosmetic branding.

The ACJ partnership gave Richard Mille a legitimate engineering narrative to underpin the aesthetics. Airbus Corporate Jets supplied material specifications and design language from its VIP aircraft interiors, and the result is a watch that functions as a wearable manifesto of extreme lightweight construction. Among collectors, the RM 50-02 ACJ sits in the same conversation as the RM 50-01 Lotus F1 and the RM 50-03 McLaren F1 — tourbillon split-seconds pieces that define the upper boundary of the brand's technical ambition and command attention on any secondary market platform.

Turki Al-Sheikh chairs the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia and has become a central figure in the kingdom's sporting and cultural expansion, overseeing boxing mega-events, football investments, and entertainment infrastructure projects measured in billions. His watch choices consistently reflect an appetite for objects that communicate both extreme cost and genuine rarity — qualities the RM 50-02 ACJ delivers without compromise.

At a UK list price of £1 million, the Richard Mille RM 50-02 ACJ was never a watch with broad market exposure. Grey-market activity on pieces of this calibre is thin and highly negotiated, with valuations routinely exceeding retail when provenance and condition align. For a 30-piece limited edition of this mechanical complexity, documented celebrity ownership only strengthens an already formidable collector case.