“Of course, the Astronomia,” Bahman Tagharrobi says when asked about his strongest initial impression of Jacob & Co.. “I remember, in Baselworld, it was some kind of prototype. The case looked completely different. I was quite a young watchmaker at the time. For me, it was very, very intriguing.”
Jacob & Co. has a dizzying array of unique, highly complicated timepieces in its line-up—minute repeaters, multi-axis tourbillons two at a time, automata—but the Astronomia has been one of its more consistent signatures. Unveiled at Baselworld in 2014, it is a lavish display of technicality; its four-armed movement sees normally static elements, like subdial indicators and escapements, sent in permanent orbit around the dial, like a miniature planetarium on the wrist.
Today, Tagharrobi is the lead watchmaker and instructor for Jacob & Co., and is involved with product development, training, and education. The Astronomia is now an expansive collection on its own and even more technically accomplished, thanks to various iterations over time. The brand as a whole is even better established as a purveyor of extremely ambitious complications. Tagharrobi, who has been with the brand since 2017, explains that its bold direction comes straight from the top. “Jacob himself—that’s the biggest part,” he says, referring to Jacob Arabo, who founded the brand in 1986. “Watchmakers—and, well, I’m also talking about myself—we see a watch from a different perspective. Jacob is a collector, and he sees himself always wearing a watch. On the other hand, the watchmakers see the making of the watch—but not on the wrist. We’re making the art piece, or the complication. But Jacob, from the very beginning, sees a timepiece on his wrist, or for his friends.” Arabo’s inquisitive and sometimes demanding nature often challenges the established paradigm and spurs the development team towards new ideas.
Tagharrobi was in Kuala Lumpur recently for the The World Is Yours exhibition, conducted in collaboration with Sincere Fine Watches Malaysia. It was a chance for him to meet local watch collectors and, more importantly, show them firsthand what a Jacob & Co. timepiece really looks and feels like. “Our brand is very well-established in social media. It’s really very interesting, but it’s a screen,” he says. “And sometimes they think, okay, it’s just an animation, maybe they never did that. Or they just made one piece. But the real pieces are exactly like what you see on the Internet. That, for me, is a big thing.” Indeed, the complexity and craftsmanship of Jacob & Co. timepieces need real-life handling to properly understand.
There is a lot to describe about a Jacob & Co. timepiece, and, as a trained watchmaker as well as educator, Tagharrobi is one of the best to do so. Here is what he had to say about some of the highlights from the The World Is Yours exhibition.
Astronomia Four-Axis Tourbillon
”There is a feature that is, unfortunately, not visible—in the sense that we cannot see it working—but we can see the results of its function. It’s the constant force device. But we didn’t think of it as a constant force watch. We came up with the idea because the goal was to have a full rotation in one minute; we had to go in different ways to make it work. We had all kinds of ideas—a crazy big barrel with so much power, which was destroying the standard escapement. Then we used a normal constant force, once per second, but this was also too violent. It was working, but the wear and tear of the wheels and the teeth were just too high.
“Then, we had this idea to cut it into even smaller portions: let’s cut it down to six portions, exactly when the balance wheel is moving, so the shock to the balance wheel is not so big that it reduces the precision too much. The result is that the movement makes six little jumps per second. For me, that’s a crazy achievement because it’s also a process that took us 10 years. From the very first Astronomia, Jacob said ‘I want it faster’, because the first one took 20 minutes. It took us another five years, but we reduced it to 10 minutes. And for a long time, 10 minutes was the limit. One minute makes sense, because then the movement becomes a seconds indicator. That, for me, is the part that is exceptional.”
The World Is Yours Dual Time Zone
“This is one piece where I was a lot more involved in the development. Jacob gave us the mission for this watch very early. It’s based on a watch that he received when he was 13. It’s one of the few items he kept from his childhood. Technically, it’s not so complicated; the two time zones are not a big challenge. But the design of the dial—he didn’t want a flat dial; he wanted it as curved as possible. Then, you’re facing new challenges with the wheels and the transmission. And then it’s all about the dial. We went through so many different processes to get the details of the continents. I think that’s really beautiful, together with the case.
“This is one of those watches that we tried to really make more compact. We hear it all the time—‘beautiful, but too big’. From the numbers, 43mm, it still sounds big, but it has no bezel, the case is one piece, and the lugs are very short. Every time I put it on the wrist of somebody and let them guess, they will say 40mm. But we need the size to have this beautiful world map.”
Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon
“It has one feature, for the time-setting and winding, a driveshaft stem. Because the movement is floating and the crowns are fixed, we needed to find something that connects them without a standard winding stem, which would break once the movement gets a shock and is vibrating. So, we took it from automotive engineering and built a super-small driveshaft. I like these hidden factors.
“This is probably the smallest driveshaft in the world! I see some people who love mechanics, they don’t care about how big it is or if it’s wearable. They’re just amazed. We have one client who owns a Bugatti, and he says, ‘I have a car with a W16 engine, and I can have a reproduction on my wrist. Of course, I need to have that!’”
