Lewis Hamilton’s Richard Mille Watch is Packed with Diamonds—and F1 Engineering

2 min readLewis Hamilton is having quite the moment. At the opening-night gala for Los Angeles’s new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the Formula 1 driver arrived wearing a Richard Mille that is about as understated as you’d expect from a watch that costs as much as a mansion.It was the Richard Mille RM 17-01 Tourbillon in rose gold, finished with the brand’s “snow setting” of diamonds. Rather than arranging the stones in a uniform grid, Richard Mille’s jewelers individually set diamonds of different sizes across the tonneau-shaped case, creating the irregular, glittering effect that gives the watch its snowy name. Each piece, then, is unique.RICHARD MILLEAnd this is not simply a diamond-encrusted flex. Beneath all that sparkle sits the manually wound RM17-01 tourbillon calibre, with hours, minutes, a power-reserve indicator, and a function indicator. The movement is built around a skeletonized grade 5 titanium baseplate and bridges, measures just 4.65mm thick and runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour. Its power reserve is around 70 hours.stefanie keenanThe tourbillon itself sits at six o’clock, while the power-reserve indicator appears at two o’clock. At four o’clock, the function indicator works a little like a car’s gearbox, showing whether the crown is set to winding, neutral, or hand-setting mode. It is a suitably technical centerpiece for a driver whose watch collection is almost as closely scrutinized as his wardrobe.Richard Mille describes the RM 17-01 as a meeting point between its watchmaking and engineering philosophies, even drawing a comparison between the development of its movement and the design of a Formula 1 car. The watch is also water resistant to 50 meters and uses a torque-limiting crown designed to prevent accidental overwinding.As for the price? Richard Mille does not publish a retail price for the RM 17-01 on its website, and even secondary-market examples are often marked “price on request.” But we did find one RM 17-01 recently that’s listed at more than $1.1 million.For Hamilton, who has long made watches part of his off-track uniform, it is another extravagant addition to the collection. And if you were looking for something subtle to wear to a museum opening, well, this probably isn’t it.