Topline
Lauren Sánchez, who married billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in a star-studded Italian celebration in June, was spotted in Ibiza, Spain, this week wearing a diamond-studded Richard Mille watch that retails for close to $300,000.
Paparazzi photos of Sánchez and Bezos show Sánchez sporting the "Dark Night" watch from Mille's RM 07-01 Intergalactic series.
The black watch is made from Carbon TPT, strong composite material used in high-performance products like racing yachts and Formula 1 cars, and is set with diamonds and red gold prongs.
The baseplate is made with titanium, the external edge is a red gold and it has jewels placed in and around the watch face.
No price for the timepiece is included on the Richard Mille website, but it is for listed sale at third party retailers between $260,000 and $298,000.
The watch is one of four in the intergalactic series of diamond-studded pieces inspired by the Big Bang theory of the universe: "A sudden explosion was followed by the emergence of millions of glittering stars," the Mille website reads.
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Reports of a romantic relationship between Sánchez, a former journalist, and Bezos, the fourth richest person in the world, first emerged in 2019. Her jewelry has made headlines since. The couple was engaged in 2023 when Bezos gave Sánchez a rare pink diamond in a cushion cut. Jewelers have estimated the stone, which has a slight rose tone, could be as large as 30 carats and worth between $3 million and $5 million. The gem is held up on a thin, cathedral-style pavé band and has two pavé hidden halos. During wedding festivities in June, Sánchez was spotted wearing a second engagement-style ring with an oval stone estimated to cost about $4 million. The brilliant cut stone is somewhere between 30 and 40 carats, experts have estimated, and is set in a platinum mounting with another double hidden halo. She's also been seen wearing a necklace with more than 200 carats of Colombian emeralds. a personalized diamond bracelet with the initials “LB” and was wed in a pair of pear-cut diamond earrings estimated to cost $5 million.
Richard Mille is a luxury watch brand spotted on celebrities like tennis star Rafael Nadal, Formula 1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, musician Pharrell Williams and actress Michelle Yeoh, who was wearing a piece from the same "intergalactic" line as Sánchez when she became the first Asian woman to win a leading film acting prize at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Actor Jackie Chan has a collection of Richard Mille watches estimated to be worth upwards of $10 million and collaborated with the brand's designers to create the RM 057. Called the "Tourbillon Jackie Chan," the brand says the piece was inspired by Chan's Chinese name, which means "the one who will become the dragon." The watch's baseplate is black onyx and features a red and gold dragon engraving. Thirty six of the limited edition pieces were made in 2012, which was also the year of the dragon on the Chinese lunar calendar.
$8.25 million. That's how much the most expensive Richard Mile watch ever sold fetched at a 2020 auction, according to Swisswatches Magazine. The RM 52-01 Skull Tourbillon, also called the Vanitas Vanitatum, features a skull design and case made of brown sapphire crystal.
Richard Mille watches getting even more expensive. The brand, based in Switzerland, is subject to a 39% tariff rate imposed by the United States that went into effect Thursday. Switzerland is home to the world’s most luxurious watch brands and the U.S. is Switzerland's top foreign watch market, with exports to America having grown 14% each year since 2019.
Bezos, the fourth-richest person in the world, had an estimated net worth of $236.7 billion Friday. He owns 9% of Amazon, the e-commerce giant he founded, and also owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company developing rockets. Bezos and his first wife, MacKenzie Scott, divorced in 2019 after 25 years of marriage and he transferred a quarter of his then-16% Amazon stake to her. She has a net worth of $31.5 billion, making her the world's 60th richest person.