Singer Pharrell William spotted wearing a Richard Mille

Pharrell Williams has been photographed wearing one of Richard Mille's most visually striking limited editions: the RM 011 NTPT Lotus F1 Team flyback chronograph, a piece that fuses Formula 1 sponsorship heritage with genuinely exotic material science.

The RM 011 family was originally developed in collaboration with F1 driver Romain Grosjean and has served as one of Richard Mille's cornerstone chronograph references since its introduction in 2007. The RM011-NTPT-Lotus-F1-Team variant takes the core architecture further by replacing the standard titanium or red gold case with one machined from NTPT — North Thin Ply Technology — carbon fiber. This aerospace-grade composite is built from layers of carbon filaments just 45 microns thick, laid at alternating 45-degree angles and infused with resin under heat and pressure. The result is a case weighing just grams yet exhibiting extraordinary rigidity, and because no two layering patterns are identical, every watch carries a unique surface topology. The Lotus green colorway embedded in the matrix ties the piece directly to the Lotus F1 Team partnership of that era.

Mechanically, the RM 011 runs the in-house caliber RMAC1, a skeletonized automatic movement offering hours, minutes, seconds, a flyback chronograph, annual calendar with month display, and a GMT function — all in a package rated to withstand 11,000 Gs of shock. The movement is visible through the sapphire crystal caseback and dial, displaying Richard Mille's signature architectural finishing: titanium bridges, PVD-treated baseplate, and oversize beveling. Water resistance sits at 50 meters.

For collectors, the NTPT Lotus edition occupies a specific and coveted niche: it is a named-athlete, named-team limited release from a period when Richard Mille's F1 partnerships were at their most culturally potent. Grosjean-associated RM 011 variants consistently attract premium attention at auction, and the NTPT material adds a further layer of desirability over standard-case equivalents.

Pharrell Williams has long collected Richard Mille with genuine intent — he has appeared publicly in multiple RM references over the years, demonstrating a preference for the brand's most technically adventurous pieces rather than its more entry-level offerings. The RM011-NTPT-Lotus-F1-Team carried a UK RRP of approximately £105,000 at retail, translating to roughly $135,000 at period exchange rates. On the secondary market today, well-documented examples with original papers regularly trade at a meaningful premium over that figure.