Watch Paparazzi

Writer Giorgia Mondani spotted wearing Richard Mille

Giorgia Mondani, the Milan-based author behind some of the most authoritative Rolex reference books ever published and a respected voice in the global watch collecting community, was recently seen wearing a Richard Mille RM 52-01 Skull Tourbillon cased in brown sapphire — a piece valued at approximately $6.7 million USD and produced in extremely limited numbers.

The Richard Mille RM 52-01 is one of the manufacture's most theatrically bold creations, first introduced as part of the artist-collaboration and skull-themed line that Richard Mille has revisited across several references. The RM 52-01 centers on a manually wound tourbillon movement — Calibre RM52-01 — built on a grade 5 titanium and carbon TPT baseplate. The tourbillon cage itself is architecturally integrated with the skull decoration, which is executed in hand-painted or sculpted form depending on the variant. Running at 21,600 vph with a power reserve of approximately 48 hours, the movement is entirely visible through the sapphire case, which in the brown iteration undergoes a specialized PVD or tinting process that gives the crystal its distinctive warm, smoky hue.

From a collector standpoint, the RM 52-01 occupies rarified territory even within Richard Mille's already exclusive catalog. Brown sapphire case variants are among the scarcest configurations the brand has produced — sapphire cases alone require hundreds of hours of machining, and the addition of a chromatic treatment compounds both technical difficulty and attrition rates during production. Pieces in this specification are almost never seen at retail and surface only sporadically at auction or through private treaty sales.

Mondani's credibility as a horological authority — she has authored definitive catalogues on Rolex Daytona and Submariner references, and co-founded Mondani Web, a leading watch market platform — makes this sighting more than a celebrity snap. When someone with her depth of knowledge chooses to wear a Richard Mille RM 52-01 in brown sapphire, it reads as a considered statement about the outer edges of contemporary watchmaking.

On the secondary market, brown sapphire variants of the RM 52-01 have achieved prices consistent with the $6–7 million USD range when they appear, reflecting both extreme scarcity and sustained demand from ultra-high-net-worth collectors. No standard retail channel exists for a piece of this nature.