Haaland’s yacht photo just exposed a £849,500 watch

Erling Haaland went on holiday and ended up starting a conversation about watches, not football. The Manchester City striker was photographed relaxing on a luxury yacht off Sicily after Norway’s World Cup 2026 qualification campaign wrapped up, and while fans were busy admiring the getaway, it was the timepiece on his wrist that stole the attention.

Haaland was wearing the newly launched Richard Mille RM 55-01 in White Quartz TPT, a model that only reached the market in April this year with a reported retail price of around £160,000. In the months since, resale listings for the watch have climbed dramatically, with some now reaching as high as £849,500 — more than five times its original price.

Other listings for the same model, in different case materials, have been spotted at £710,000 and £620,000. These figures are seller asking prices rather than confirmed completed sales, but they still point to unusually strong demand for a watch that has barely been on the market for a few months.

Part of the appeal comes down to scarcity. Unlike several of Richard Mille’s recent releases, the RM 55-01 is not a limited edition, yet the brand is known for producing only a relatively small number of watches each year. That has pushed many prospective buyers who don’t want to wait for an official allocation toward the secondary market, where prices have climbed well past retail.

The RM 55-01 also stands apart from many other Richard Mille pieces for its simpler design approach — rather than stacking on complications, it focuses on displaying the time while showing off the brand’s engineering, built around a hand-wound, openworked movement that weighs less than five grams. It comes in three versions: White Quartz TPT, Grey Quartz TPT and Carbon TPT, all made from lightweight, durable composite materials.

Haaland has been linked to luxury watches before, and this latest appearance is likely to draw even more attention to the RM 55-01. The resale listings don’t confirm what buyers have actually paid, but they make clear just how much interest the model has generated in a short space of time.

Wikimedia Commons/by MichaelEmilio