Anant, the son of Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, casually visited a shopping mall wearing a $3.1 million Richard Mille watch. Encased in a hardened sapphire case and with only three pieces ever made, it is one of the rarest timepieces

Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Indian billionaire and Asia’s richest person Mukesh Ambani, has established himself as one of the most prominent collectors of rare and uber-expensive watches over the last few years. His extensive collection includes some of the most exclusive watches ever made, including the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 5175 he wore during his wedding. While the Patek might be the most expensive watch owned by Anant, it’s not the rarest of them all. The billionaire scion was recently spotted wearing a Richard Mille piece, which is even more exclusive than the $40 million Patek Philippe.

The hyper-exclusive watch in question is Richard Mille’s RM52-04 Skull Blue Sapphire. Believed to be limited to just three examples in the world, it is considered by many to be one of the rarest timepieces in the world. In fact, the handcrafted masterpiece isn’t even listed on Richard Mille’s website and was only sold to the most important patrons of the brand. While the retail price of the stunning watch is not known, according to Sotheby’s its value in the secondary market, if ever you can get one, is estimated to be close to $3.1 million.

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The Richard Mille RM 052 Tourbillon Skull in gold.

Richard Mille originally released the RM 052 Tourbillon Skull way back in 2012, which was available in titanium, rose gold, and white gold versions — all in limited edition runs for a total of 21 pieces. However, the watchmaker later created off-catalog colored sapphire versions of the timepiece, which were exclusively available to VIP customers.

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The 42.7mm x 50mm tonneau-shaped case is machined out of a single block of sapphire, which can take around 40 days. Working with sapphire is incredibly challenging, as even a minor mistake requires starting the entire case from scratch.

The skeletonised baseplate of the RM52-04 in gold.

In the timepiece, the case surrounds a skeleton dial while the baseplate and bridges take the form of a grade 5 titanium skull, which happens to be its highlight. The upper and lower jaws hold the ruby of the tourbillon cage. The translucent watch is styled on a white rubber bracelet that beautifully complements the icy blue color of the sapphire case.