There is a yellow smiley face on this watch. It sits at twelve o'clock, grinning, on a dial that costs more than most houses. The RM 88 Tourbillon Smiley is, on paper, one of the most technically advanced wristwatches ever produced: a hand-wound tourbillon in a skeletonised case, with baseplate and bridges machined from grade 5 titanium, costing somewhere north of one million dollars. And it has a smiley face on it. This is Richard Mille at his most perverse and most brilliant — the demonstration that he is so far past the conventions of watchmaking that he can afford to be funny.
The Story
Richard Mille launched his brand in 2001 with a single idea: make the most technically advanced watch possible, price it appropriately, and sell it to the people who could afford to understand it. Twenty-plus years later, that idea has produced a company whose watches are worn by Rafael Nadal on clay courts, by McLaren Formula One drivers in the cockpit, and by collectors who have discovered that the watches actually appreciate. The Smiley complication is a limited edition — 30 pieces — that deploys the brand's signature technical vocabulary in service of what Mille calls "emotional watchmaking." The smiley indicator at 12 o'clock functions as a seconds display. The face moves. It is somehow charming and utterly terrifying in equal measure.
The Mechanism
The RMUL3 manual-winding movement features a variable geometry rotor that allows adjustment of the mainspring tension — a function borrowed from Formula One technology. The tourbillon cage completes one rotation per minute and is visible through the front of the case. The baseplate is machined from ARCAP alloy — an anti-magnetic, corrosion-resistant material that is significantly harder to work with than conventional brass, which is why conventional watchmakers don't use it. The skeletonisation is not decorative: every gram removed from the movement reduces stress on the wearer's wrist, which is the origin of the entire Richard Mille philosophy.
On the Wrist
This is a large watch — 50.65mm × 38.7mm in the tonneau shape that Richard Mille has made his own. It should be imposing. It is, somehow, not. The grade 5 titanium weighs less than one expects; the ergonomic case shape distributes that weight in a way that feels deliberate and considered. The smiley face, at this scale, reads as a serious design statement. In an industry that has spent two centuries teaching collectors to be solemn, Richard Mille put a grin on a million-dollar watch and dared anyone to object. Nobody did.
“He put a smiley face on a million-dollar watch and dared anyone to object. Nobody did.”
How to Acquire It
Richard Mille boutiques are the only route for new acquisitions. Pieces are pre-allocated to clients with purchase histories, and the waiting time for a first RM acquisition routinely exceeds two years. The RM 88 Smiley was a limited 30-piece run; all pieces are sold. Secondary market prices reflect this: expect $1.3 to $1.8 million at auction or through specialist dealers. The brand maintains relationships with a small number of watch dealers who handle pre-owned RM pieces with authenticity documentation.
- →Establish a purchase history with Richard Mille before approaching for limited editions.
- →Collector network access is the fastest route to secondary market pieces — auction houses are secondary.
- →Authenticity documentation is critical: RM fakes exist at high price points and require expert verification.
