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Pilot Romain Grosjean spotted wearing Richard Mille

Romain Grosjean has never been shy about his wrist, and this sighting is no exception. The French Formula 1 driver — now competing in IndyCar following his dramatic 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix accident — was photographed wearing the Richard Mille RM 011 Red TPT Quartz, a flyback chronograph limited to just 50 examples worldwide. On a driver whose career has been defined by extreme conditions, the choice reads less like a fashion statement and more like a technical specification.

The Richard Mille RM 011 is one of the maison's most enduring references, first introduced in 2007 as a dedicated flyback chronograph with a date function and annual calendar — unusually complex complications for a case that measures just 40mm × 50mm. At its core sits the caliber RMAC1, an automatic movement developed with movement specialist Audemars Piguet Le Locle, offering a 55-hour power reserve and functioning across a temperature range that most Swiss ebauches would find hostile. The Red TPT Quartz variant elevates the architecture further: the case material is produced by North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), a Swiss firm originally supplying aerospace and America's Cup yacht programs, and the vivid red coloration penetrates every layer of the composite rather than sitting as a surface treatment.

For collectors, the RM 011 in any TPT variant represents a convergence of Richard Mille's material science ambitions and its most commercially successful complication platform. TPT references routinely appreciate on the secondary market, and a 50-piece ceiling on the Red edition makes individual examples genuinely difficult to source. The annual calendar mechanism — requiring just one manual correction per year — adds practical horological substance beneath the spectacle.

Grosjean's relationship with Richard Mille predates his IndyCar transition by several years; he wore the brand throughout his F1 tenure, testing the watches under the exact g-forces and vibration loads that the brand markets against. That authenticity matters in a segment where ambassadorship is often purely cosmetic. Here, the man and the machine have genuinely shared a cockpit.

At a UK RRP of approximately £112,000 — translating to roughly $140,000 USD at prevailing rates — the RM 011 Red TPT Quartz is firmly positioned in Richard Mille's upper-mid tier. On the grey market, complete examples with box and papers have traded above retail, reflecting sustained demand for sub-100-piece TPT references from one of the brand's core complication families.