There are donations, and then there are donations, but when Richard Mille donates a watch you know it’s a big donation. The price of a Richard Mille watch can range from $20,000 up to over half a million dollars. The lucky recipient of his generosity is the Only Watch Auction which will take place in Monaco on September 28. The event will be conducted by the watch auctioneers, Antiquorum, with all proceeds going to the Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophy. Thirty-two other watch brands are are donating timepieces as well. But only Mille’s watch was designed for an Olympic track star.
This prototype, based on the Tourbillon RM038, (bearing his initials as all Mille’s creations do) was made to the specifications of the Jamaican sprinter, Yohan Blake, who won two silver medals, and one gold at the London Olympics last year. The watch includes the colors of Jamaica’s flag, with a green flange and crown, a yellow velcro strap and yellow minute markers.The 19 jewel watch was made for speed. With its baseplate, bridges, and balance cock all made with grade 5 titanium, and a case fashioned out of Magnesium WE 54, it is both rugged and lightweight.
This prototype is not the first watch Richard Mille has bestowed on sports celebrities. Felipe Massa, the French Formula 1 racer, and Rafael Nada,the Spanish tennis player have also worn his special-edition Tourbillon watches. But, the Yohan Blake Prototype Tourbillon is the first to be worn on a sprinter’s wrist during a race, and is the first to ascend the Olympic Podium – three times.
It will not be the first Mille timepiece to appear at an Only Watch auction, however. Mille has been supporting the event since its inception five years ago.
