Jacob & Co. is firing on all cylinders heading into 2022. The company has unveiled a US$1.5 million Bugatti Chiron Blue Sapphire Crystal watch—the result of a year-long collaboration between the two companies—that miniaturises a Bugatti 16-cylinder engine for the wrist.
But it’s not just a watch shaped like a hypercar’s engine, the Bugatti Chiron Blue Sapphire Crystal watch literally runs like one. While the watch movement powers the timing functions and a 60-second flying tourbillon, an automation can be put into action via the right crown to make the engine “roar” to activate 16 pistons pumping and two turbochargers spinning in an ultimate show-off piece. But would you expect anything less from Jacob & Co.? This is a company, after all, that has also turned out pieces like a wristwatch that figuratively pumps oil or another that creates a cinematic portrayal of The Godfather, including playing the gangster flick’s theme song.
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“At Jacob & Co., we are always developing luxury watches which no one else can imagine,” said Jacob & Co. CEO Benjamin Arabov in a statement. “With the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon timepiece, we have done something no one has ever even attempted before, create the world’s first true engine on the wrist.”
To house this watch’s theatrics, the company crafted a case from a blue-hued sapphire crystal—a material notoriously difficult to machine and extraordinarily expensive to manufacture in a timepiece. But certainly, no other material would do to show off these mechanics. The clear case offers a 360-degree view of the 578 hand-decorated and hand-assembled components of the JCAM37 manual-wound caliber, including the tourbillon which is inclined at 30 degrees, a first for the company. The caseback also offers a view of the 51 jewels required for the assembly of the movement, as well as the power reserve indicator which is complete with a universal gas pump symbol on the side of the gauge at 9 o’clock.
Needless to say, the Bugatti Chiron Blue Sapphire Crystal isn’t for wallflowers or shallow pockets and, one would presume (although it is not technically a prerequisite), requires a Bugatti already parked in the garage to match.
Previously published on Robb Report.
