Another day, another extravagant pre-wedding celebration was organized for Anant Ambani, the youngest son of the wealthiest person in Asia, and his fiancée, Radhika Merchant. Yet again, the billionaire scion was spotted wearing a very expensive and ultra-rare timepiece, carefully color-matched to his attire. This time around, a Richard Mille RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal was spotted on the wrist of the 29-year-old. The bright orange fabric strap of the incredible sports watch perfectly matched the vibrant Indian attire worn by Anant at the pre-wedding function.
As the name suggests, the Richard Mille watch was created in collaboration with Tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, a long-serving brand ambassador for the luxury watch brand. The timepiece was launched in 2015 right ahead of the French Open, where the Spanish tennis legend wore it during the championship. The RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal is the first watch to feature a case made of TPT Quartz. It is composed of hundreds of layers of quartz filaments piled on top of each other. The fibers are not only exceptionally resistant to high temperatures but also offer extreme strength and transparency to electromagnetic waves. The layered construction of the material gives the timepiece a unique black-and-white appearance.
Another notable innovation is the timepiece’s ‘unibody’ baseplate. Inspired by the chassis of racing cars, the skeletonized baseplate was designed to increase rigidity and resistance to impacts. The caseband and baseplate are fused into a single piece, creating a sculptural piece. Equally impressive is the Caliber RM27-02 manual winding tourbillon movement with hours and minutes. Two prominently visible bridges crafted from grade 5 titanium hold the tourbillon at 6 o’clock and the fast-rotating barrel at 12. The one-minute tourbillon uses a free-sprung balance with variable inertia for better chronometric results. The beautifully finished movement delivers 70 hours of power reserve and is resistant to shocks up to 5000g.
The production of the Richard Mille RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal was limited to just 50 examples, each priced at 777,000 euros (with taxes). However, the highly-exclusive piece is currently valued upwards of $1.3 million in the pre-owned market. Anant Ambani’s collection includes several limited edition Richard Mille timepieces, including a $1.4 million Richard Mille RM12-01 Tourbillon Carbon and red Quartz TPT, a $6 million Richard Mille RM56-01 Tourbillon Green Sapphire, and a Richard Mille RM 56-02 Sapphire worth $4.6 million. In complete contrast, his father, Mukesh Ambani, who has a net worth of $120 billion, prefers wearing a simple $9,000 Vacheron Constantin watch, which was discontinued more than a decade ago.
