Jacob & Co.’s newest watch tosses out the firm’s signature wit in favor of an argument for self-indulgence. The watch is called the ‘Billionaire Timeless Treasure’, and it’s rather a conspicuous bit of high-dollar bling. In fact, it might pass as costume jewelry.
The watch follows in the spirit of the watchmaker’s ‘Billionaire’ timepiece of about eight years ago. A special client project, the first watch in the series is inset with 239 emerald-cut diamonds, and ran its owner $18 million. The second entry clocked in at $7 million.
The latest in this client-commissioned contest — it’s all about one-upmanship, and taste is of course in the eye of the beholder — packs 425 Asscher-cut yellow diamonds, 76 emerald- and kite-cut tsavorite, and 57 baguette-cut yellow diamonds; the yellow diamonds alone tip the scales at nearly 217 carats. The watch represents much of the recent global stock of yellow diamonds. It came with a $20 million price tag.
For true horologists, the skeleton tourbillon movement will be the most interesting facet of this unabashedly ostentatious gem-heavy timepiece. JCAM39 is incredibly thin, and has a rotating regulating organ and a power reserve of 72 hours.