Drake has barely put a foot wrong in 2021.
Not only has his sixth studio album, Certified Lover Boy, demolished streaming records (crucially, beating out rival Kanye West’s album Donda, which was released only days before Drake’s album), but his ‘NOCTA GOLF’ apparel collaboration with Nike has also been incredibly successful. He’s a man on top of the world.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that Drake’s added yet another incredibly expensive watch to his already lavish collection to celebrate his recent winning streak: a Richard Mille RM 27-04 Manual Winding Tourbillon Rafael Nadal worth as much as AU$3.2 million, which he showed off on his Instagram Story earlier today. It’s a watch he actually raps about on the album, on the track You Only Live Twice, where he claims he paid US$2.2 million for it (“Yeah, two-point-two for the Rafael Nadal / Don’t act like you’re happy for me now.”)
But sometimes even winners choke – which is what Drake’s done, quite literally, with this new watch. Fans have been quick to point out that he’s wearing his expensive timepiece far too tight, literally choking his wrist in the process. It’s making us feel uncomfortable just looking at it.
As the name implies, the watch is one of a number of signature models produced by Richard Mille for the legendary 20-time Grand Slam winning tennis player Rafael Nadal. Nadal’s RM models are some of the brand’s most popular, but this model is particularly special.
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Instead of a dial, a single woven steel cable is strung across the interior of the watch, both aesthetically and literally like the way you’d string a tennis racket – highly appropriate for a tennis star like Nadal. The movement is then suspended from the mesh under high tension, apparently capable of withstanding accelerations of over 12,000G’s, with a skeletonised titanium baseplate underneath supporting the eye-catching structure.
The watch’s case is made from an exclusive material called TitaCarb; a carbon fibre-reinforced polymer that’s incredibly tough, light and similar to materials used in the automotive and aerospace industries. If that wasn’t exotic enough, the RM 27-04 is a limited edition of only 50 pieces.
In short, it’s one gigantic flex – shame Drake decided to wear it so tight on his wrist and look like a pillock in the process.
Fans have said everything from “what is that watch” to “incredibly corny” about the flex on Complex’s Instagram, some even quipping “he looks like he’s from Entourage“. Yikes.
Drake’s not the only celebrity who’s been guilty of choking out their wrist with their expensive watch like this. For example, acclaimed Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar was spotted seriously cutting off his circulation with his Bulgari Octo Finissimo at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month – a horological faux pas spotted by watch expert Nick Gould (@niccoloy).
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Other celebs guilty of this watch crime include Will Smith, John Travolta and former US President Donald Trump. So we guess Drake’s in illustrious company, then…