I Know Jack-Sh!T About Tennis... But...

I know Jack-shit about tennis- I know a lot about wristwatches...

And I know Roger Federer wears a Rolex.

Or at least in the commercials he does.

So when I learned this morning that Rafael Nadal wears a $525,000 wristwatch, I was intrigued. Even if I don't know who or what the hell a Rafael Nadal is.

Turns out he's a very good tennis player, maybe even one of the best alive today- and the makers of Richard Mille timepieces will have you believing they produce the best, most advanced wristwatches you can buy... Today, for $525,000.

Weighing just 20 grams (or about the same weight as eight pennies according to the article) the RM 027 Tourbillion by Richard Mille is a high-performance, high-tech and high-ticketed item- even for the pro tour.

It promises accuracy, wearability, and, at over half-a-million-dollars, exclusivity. Carbon composite case, lithium-alloy innards.... That's nice. Just FYI- I'm laughing as I write this- as this watch is a Tourbillion- which any watch fanatic worth his wrist will tell you is absolutely, positively worthless on or in the functionality of a wristwatch.

It's just for bragging rights. It's useless!

The Tourbillion complication dates back when pocket and carriage clocks, which were traditionally and typically kept in one, say, upright position. (No use talking about things that are useless....)

From Wikipedia:
In horology, a tourbillon (pronounced /tʊərˈbɪljən/, French: [tuʁbijɔ̃], "whirlwind") is an addition to the mechanics of a watch escapement. Developed around 1795 by the French - Swiss watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet from an earlier idea by the English chronometer maker John Arnold a tourbillon counters the effects of gravity by mounting the escapement and balance wheel in a rotating cage, ostensibly in order to negate the effect of gravity when the timepiece (and thus the escapement) is rotated. Originally an attempt to improve accuracy, tourbillons are still included in some expensive modern watches as a novelty and demonstration of watchmaking virtuosity. The mechanism is usually exposed on the watch's face to show it off.

A wristwatch worn on the arm of a tennis player is surely countering the effects of gravity- if it's not- well, it isn't much of a tennis game!

But trust me when I tell you- buy one of the 50 they're producing, and go to sell it later-on- you'll be lucky to get ten-cents on the dollar.

Ten-cents on the dollar if it's absolutely mint, unworn, perfect and has never, ever, possibly seen the clay of a tennis court- or the sweat off Rafael Nadal's forearm.

Take it from a person who has brokered dozens and dozens of high-end timepieces to a collector world that is fickle and outright anal-retentive to say the least...

But from someone who doesn't know Jack-shit about tennis- I applaud Richard Mille in marketing a $525,000 watch on the arm of a pro tennis player.

That's a great publicity stunt.

As for Rolex and Roger Federer- now that's advertising.

Again, I know Jack-shit about tennis... But I know who Roger Federer is... And I know he wears a Rolex.

Then again... What-the-hell do I know anyway?

I know I don't have $525,000 to spend on a watch.