The $350,000 Watch on Tadej Pogacar's Wrist — and the Million-Dollar One He Left at Home
By TopHolding Editorial · Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 12:15 AM
A five-time Tour de France winner races in a watch worth more than a house, while a 32-gram, near-million-dollar tourbillon built with Colnago stayed in the safe over security fears.
Tadej Pogacar has spent years being two things at once: one of the greatest cyclists of his generation, and one of the most visible faces of Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille. The partnership began in 2021, when the brand signed on with his UAE Team Emirates squad. Since then the Slovenian rider has quietly become the house's ambassador in the cycling world.
The watch he actually races in
On the road, Pogacar generally wears the RM 67-02 — an extremely light, extremely durable piece built from materials borrowed from aerospace and motorsport. Its estimated value is around $350,000. He famously kept it on after Paris-Roubaix, refusing to take it off even during the traditional post-race showers at the velodrome, a scene photographers were more than happy to capture.
A limited edition unveiled before the Tour
Just days before this year's Tour de France began, Richard Mille and Italian bicycle manufacturer Colnago revealed something new: the RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago.
Only 50 examples will be made, and the price approaches one million dollars. The design borrows heavily from Colnago's iconic frame geometry, right down to the brand's clover emblem set into the crown.
It is a hand-wound tourbillon whose open architecture mimics the shape of a Colnago race frame. The case is made from a blue-and-white Quartz TPT composite, the movement bridges from titanium alloy, and the interior is hand-painted in Colnago's signature colours. Despite 274 individual components, the whole thing weighs roughly 32 grams and holds about 65 hours of power reserve.
Pogacar did not wear it at this year's Tour. Colnago reportedly raised concerns about the rider's personal safety given the watch's astronomical value — a rare case of a sponsor asking an athlete not to show off the product.
The brand behind the wrist
Richard Mille the company was founded in 2001 by Richard Mille the man, a French entrepreneur born in 1951 in Draguignan. He entered the watch industry in 1974 at Finhor, then built experience at Matra and at Mauboussin, where he ran the watch division. In 1999, together with his friend Dominique Guenat and with backing from Swiss manufacturer Audemars Piguet, he laid the foundations for his own brand.
His philosophy was clear from the start: use materials from aerospace and motorsport — titanium, carbon fibre — and abandon classical, baroque watch design entirely.
Today the label is known for ultralight, near-indestructible watches worn by elite athletes including former tennis star Rafael Nadal, Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, and, alongside Pogacar, his teammate Isaac del Toro and great rival Mathieu van der Poel.
The quiet economics of it
None of these athletes buy their watches. That is the point. A six-figure timepiece strapped to a wrist crossing the finish line in front of hundreds of millions of viewers is advertising that no billboard can match — and it doubles as an asset class, since the scarcest Richard Mille references routinely trade above retail on the secondary market. The 50-piece Colnago edition will almost certainly be worth more the day after it sells out than the day it was announced.
Which makes the decision to leave it at home a little ironic. The safest place for a million-dollar watch, it turns out, is nowhere near the world's most-watched bike race.