Jeremy Strong’s style is built on two elements: bucket hats and outrageous Richard Mille watches. So it only makes sense that the (in)famous method actor would find a way to synchronize the two. That’s exactly what Strong did on the red carpet at Cannes this week.
Jeremy made a Strong (sorry) showing at the film festival, where he was decked out in full burgundy corduroy, including a $156,000 Richard Mille RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat in the same shade. Unlike the brand’s more typical tonneau-cased watches, this one features a rectangular profile with—you guessed it—extra flat proportions and a wrist-hugging, slightly curved shape. A three-part case with a separate bezel, caseband, and caseback, it was designed in tandem with the watch’s movement to maintain a distinctive harmony between each component. Boasting 30m of water resistance, it’s assembled using Grade 5 titanium spline screws and stainless steel washers.
JB Lacroix
Much like a bucket hat, Richard Milles wares are an acquired taste—however, there’s no doubt that this relatively young brand is at the cutting edge of horological design, consistently releasing high-tech pieces and putting them on the likes of tennis players, race car drivers, dancers, skiers, actors, and more. Strong, for his part, has been spotted in the brand’s Ferrari collab, the RM UP-01, which was briefly the thinnest mechanical watch in the world. (Bulgari, not to be outdone, out-thinned the RM UP-01 a few years later and has since lost the record, too.) Of course, his predilection for RM makes plenty of sense if you consider his most famous role, that of billionaire Kendall Roy on the wildly popular Succession. Richard Mille watches are often referred to as the “billionaire’s handshake,” and Strong wore the brand’s RM 67-01 in the show’s final season.
Like all Richard Mille wares, Strong’s new RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat is powered by a wildly over-engineered movement, the automatic, skeletonized CRMA9. Created in-house by Richard Mille specifically for this model and mounted to the watch case via rubber bumpers and titanium screws, it’s based upon a microblasted grey electroplasma-treated titanium baseplate with a black PVD-treated motionwork bridge and Grade 5 titanium bridges on the back. Like other RM calibers, it also features a free-sprung balance with variable inertia, which makes for better chronometric accuracy and shock resistance. (It’s also fun to say—try it: “free-sprung balance with variable inertia.”)
Despite its futuristic design, the RM 16-02 is relatively reserved compared to numerous other, more colorful RM models. (It’s also available in a cool cream-like Terracotta colorway with a matching rubber strap, which is slightly more subtle than Strong’s burgundy version.) Looking at it from the side—and considering its rubber band—you might even mistake it for a significantly more pedestrian sports watch. Of course, that’s very much not what it is. To snag one, you’ll have to lay out about $134,000, so it’s best to start saving those bonus checks now.