Watch Paparazzi

Singer Ed Sheeran spotted wearing Richard Mille

Ed Sheeran is not the first name that springs to mind when discussing six-figure avant-garde horology, but the British singer-songwriter has long maintained a serious watch habit beneath the hoodies and guitar cases. His latest confirmed sighting places him wearing one of the more elusive configurations in the Richard Mille catalogue: the RM 011 in DLC titanium with orange accents, a variant reportedly limited to just 30 examples globally.

The RM 011 is a foundational reference for Richard Mille, introduced in the mid-2000s as the brand's first flyback chronograph with an annual calendar complication. The movement — calibre RMAC1, later evolved through subsequent iterations — is a skeletonised automatic beating at 28,800 vph, offering flyback function, a date and month display, and a 55-hour power reserve. The case architecture is pure Richard Mille: a tonneau-shaped, multi-part construction in grade 5 titanium here treated with Diamond-Like Carbon coating, which delivers extraordinary scratch resistance and a near-matte black finish that makes the orange contrast indices and crown pop with considerable visual force.

DLC titanium versions of the RM 011 occupy a particular position among collectors. The coating process adds meaningful technical value — DLC rates roughly 1,500 HV on the Vickers hardness scale, far exceeding untreated titanium — while the colour combinations in restricted runs give these pieces genuine rarity. A 30-piece worldwide allocation puts this variant firmly in the territory where private allocation and waiting lists replace conventional retail transactions.

Sheeran's watch sensibility has included Rolex and Patek Philippe pieces in the past, but the RM 011 DLC Orange is a statement of a different register — technically maximalist, visually confrontational, and unambiguously from the collector tier of the market rather than the aspiration tier. It suits an artist who has consistently defied expectations about what his public persona implies about his private tastes.

On the secondary market, DLC titanium RM 011 variants with limited production numbers command significant premiums. Auction results and grey-market platforms place comparable examples in the $150,000–$200,000 range depending on provenance and condition, with extreme rarity variants pushing further. The official retail figure for RM 011 configurations in this specification ran to approximately $120,000 at list — assuming you were among the thirty people who ever had that option.