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royal Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi spotted wearing a Richard Mille RM68-01

Royal Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi spotted wearing Richard Mille

30/11/2022

Description: Richard Mille RM 68-01 Tourbillon Cyril Kongo Hand-Painted Limited Edition – Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi
Ref: RM68-01
List Price: $537,000
Market Price (estimated): unknown
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Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of the Emirate of Ajman and one of the Gulf's more quietly stylish royal figures, was recently spotted on his Instagram (@aj.ammar) wearing a Richard Mille RM 68-01 Tourbillon Cyril Kongo — a watch that occupies a rare intersection between haute horlogerie and genuine contemporary art.

The Richard Mille RM 68-01 is built around a manually wound tourbillon movement, calibre RM68-01, housed in a tonneau-shaped case crafted from grade 5 titanium. The movement architecture is characteristically Richard Mille: a skeletonized baseplate with visible bridges, a variable geometry rotor, and a tourbillon at six o'clock that serves both mechanical and aesthetic purposes. Water resistance is rated to 50 metres — remarkable given how much of the dial architecture is exposed. The case measures approximately 50.05 x 42.70 mm, consistent with Richard Mille's uncompromising wrist presence.

What elevates the RM 68-01 beyond a standard Richard Mille tourbillon is the involvement of Cyril Kongo, the Paris-born graffiti and street artist whose gestural, calligraphy-influenced work has appeared on gallery walls from New York to Tokyo. Rather than producing a printed or transferred pattern, Kongo hand-painted each of the 30 cases individually with acrylic and lacquer, directly onto the titanium surface. The result is a limited edition where every single reference number represents a genuinely unique artwork — an almost unprecedented approach in watchmaking at this price level.

For collectors, the RM 68-01 Cyril Kongo represents a convergence of factors that drive long-term desirability: a hard cap of 30 pieces worldwide, an artist collaboration with genuine cultural credibility, and Richard Mille's already constrained supply chain. Unlike fashion-house collaborations that flood the market, this edition's production ceiling means secondary-market availability is extremely rare, and provenance matters enormously — a piece with a documented royal owner adds a further layer of collectibility.

Sheikh Ammar is known within regional watch circles for an eclectic and considered collection. His choice of the RM 68-01 over more conventional royal dress watches signals a collector's sensibility rather than status signaling alone. At a UK list price of £537,000, the Richard Mille RM 68-01 Tourbillon Cyril Kongo was never an entry-level proposition; on the secondary market, examples trade significantly above retail when they surface at all.