- Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the 11th time on Sunday.
- During the match, Nadal's hand cramped up, which brought a lot of zoomed-in images of his most expensive piece of equipment, his watch.
- Nadal plays tournaments while wearing the limited edition Richard Mille watch which is valued at $725,000.
Rafael Nadal won the French Open for the 11th time and one incident brought attention to his most expensive piece of equipment, his $725,000 Richard Mille watch.
During the men's singles final, Nadal's left hand began to cramp. As Nadal received treatment for his hand and he continued to massage it for several minutes after, the cameras frequently zoomed in on his hands and the orange watch.
Nadal's latest version of the watch is the RM27-03, valued at $725,000, according to Forbes. That is actually a tad below the $775,000 pricetag on his previous RM27-02, which Nadal first wore at the 2015 French Open.
Nadal is no stranger to the world of high-end watches. In 2010 he began wearing another Richard Mille timepiece valued at $500,000. In 2013, he was wearing the first incarnation of the RM27, one valued at $690,000.
Richard Mille only made 50 of the RM27-03. It's most impressive features are its lightweight (20 grams) yet durable construction (can withstand 5,000 Gs of force).
Nadal, who's left-handed, wears it on his right wrist.
Nadal told Tom Perrotta of The Wall Street Journal that he was skeptical of wearing the watch at first.
"In the beginning there was a little bit of transition, we had to work together to adjust everything to my wrist," Nadal told WSJ. "It’s like you are wearing nothing. It’s part of my skin."
According to Perrotta, Nadal has lost two Richard Mille watches that were stolen (one was later recovered) and nearly lost a third when a fellow player found one in a locker room.
