Richard Mille made his name on watches that look like they were extracted from an F1 chassis. The brand's customer became a person who wanted a tourbillon shaped like a small piece of motorsport-grade engineering. The RM 88 is what happens when that customer has bought every serious RM in the catalogue and is now buying watches the way someone might buy a painting.
What the watch actually is
Mechanically, the RM 88 is straightforward by RM standards: an automated tourbillon, carbon TPT case, 50-hour reserve, and the calibre RMF8 movement (a slimmed adaptation of the RM 030 base). The dial is hand-painted with the Smiley emoji at 12 o'clock. The bezel is engraved with a stylised yellow smile that wraps around the inner ring of the case.
The surrounding industry has noted, correctly, that this is the first watch ever released where the bezel exists primarily to convey a feeling. The Smiley logo itself dates to 1972, when French journalist Franklin Loufrani designed it for France Soir; The Smiley Company holds the global trademark and licenses it to brands ranging from H&M to Roland Mouret. The Richard Mille collaboration is a license, not a creative partnership in the usual luxury sense.
The production technique is more interesting than the joke. The dial's smiley face is hand-painted in three layers using miniature enameling techniques developed for Cartier's high jewellery line. Each painted dial takes a single craftsperson roughly nine hours to complete. Across 50 pieces, that's three months of one person's working time — for the dial alone.
Why it matters
Independent watch criticism in 2026 still tends to evaluate watches as either tool watches or dress watches. The RM 88 is neither. It is a watch as cultural commentary — a million-pound object that says, in effect, "watches are jewellery now."
Whether this is good or bad is not the point. The point is that the RM customer signed on. All 50 pieces sold in the first 72 hours, with most allocations going to existing RM clients with multi-piece histories. The secondary market is already 60% above retail, and the first piece to appear at Phillips (Hong Kong, October 2026 sale) is expected to clear £1.6m.
For the broader release context this year, see our Watches and Wonders 2026: The Releases That Will Matter coverage. The RM 88 was technically not a Watches and Wonders release (Richard Mille has not exhibited at the show since 2019) but the Smiley collaboration was the most-discussed watch of the spring season nonetheless.
What it tells us about 2026 luxury
Three things. First, the cultural-collaboration model is now as legitimate at million-pound price points as it has been at Supreme-streetwear price points for the last decade. The RM 88 is the watch equivalent of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama bag — and the market has accepted it on the same terms.
Second, the dress code at this price point has fully decoupled from the dress code anywhere else. The RM 88 is not a watch you wear with a suit. It is not a watch you wear with anything specific. It is an object you own, like a small Banksy.
Third, the resistance from traditional watch criticism is starting to look like the resistance to streetwear in fashion in the early 2000s. The taste-makers don't approve. The market doesn't care. For more on the broader market signals, see The Off-Market in 2026: Where Prices Are Actually Going.
Should you try to buy one?
If you're a current RM client with a strong allocation history, you may already have. If you're not, the secondary is the only path, and the secondary is moving — it has not had a soft week since launch.
Our honest dealer answer: this is not a watch we'd recommend as a first or second RM. It is a piece that requires the rest of a Richard Mille collection to make sense. If you do want one, tell us — we have one quiet line into a private allocation, and we move when the right configuration comes up.
If you want a less polarising RM as a first reference, the RM 011 Felipe Massa, the RM 030, and the RM 67-02 are all the conversations to have. The RM 67-02 in particular is the most under-rated entry into the brand — at roughly 32g on the wrist (less than a Rolex Datejust), it has the best wearability-to-impact ratio of any RM in the catalogue.
For trade buyers: the RM 88's allocation pattern follows the brand's standard process — existing client allocations only, with most pieces going to the top tier of the brand's customer hierarchy. We do not have direct allocation, and we will not pretend we do. Where we add value is in the secondary: when an RM 88 surfaces from a private collector exit (which we expect to start happening at the 18-month mark, roughly Q3 2027), we will be on the list of dealers it surfaces to first.
The first watch where the bezel exists primarily to convey a feeling. Whether you love it or hate it, that's new.
