Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup trophy following his victory against Russia's Daniil Medvedev in their men's singles final match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 31, 2022. - -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE -- (Photo by MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty Images)
Rafael Nadal won the 2022 Australian Open but one of the major talking points was his Richard Mille watch
Rafael Nadal is one of the greatest sportspersons ever to have graced the earth. The Spaniard has won a record 21 Grand Slams, the most by any man in the world of tennis, and is considered as one of the best to have ever played the game.
Nadal is known for his tenacity on the court and has dominated the French Open winning it 13 times, another record. Winning each tournament adds millions to Nadal’s account but there are also other avenues to grow your brand and bank balance.
One way to achieve that is via tie ups and sponsorship deals. There is no dearth of options for Nadal and the Spaniard possibly selects only those brands that share a vision with him.
One of those is luxury watch maker Richard Mille. The Swiss company has several partners including top names such as Nadal, Fernando Alonso, Yohan Blake, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh and Didier Drogba.
Nadal was sporting one of those watches at the 2022 Australian Open and it costs a cool $1.05million.
This is a special watch created by the company, the RM 27-04, and this can withstand severe shocks. This has been shared on Richard Mille’s site regarding this series:
“It is from the key concept of lightness that we developed the RM 027 Tourbillon in close collaboration with Rafael Nadal, who tested the RM 027 in real world conditions and wore it during tennis matches. The results of this horological experiment speaks for itself: despite the abrupt, extreme movements and shocks typical of high level tennis matches, the RM 027 Tourbillon has proven its durability whilst enabling Rafael Nadal total freedom of movement.”
Richard Mille were smart in tying up with Nadal when he had just started to win Grand Slams.
They spotted that he was not wearing a watch during his time on the court, and they swooped in.
This was back in 2008 and their partnership has seen several watches come out. Nadal has also confirmed that he didn’t wear a watch prior to this deal but is now always sporting one from the brand.
Nadal’s collection has also grown over the years but information is very scarce. The only details available are about the Richard Mille collections.
One is the RM 27 range and Nadal was wearing an RM 27-03 watch. This was specially made in the colours of the Spanish flag, a tribute to the home country of the tennis star.
The second watch collection we know of is the RM 35-03. This is the fourth watch of the collection and it is also called the Baby Nadal collection.
This watch is also filled with several innovations, and it will be interesting to see what else comes up from this relationship.
Nadal is one of the most marketable sports stars in the world, and there is no doubt we will see more watches soon.
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