Jacob & Co. is one of the most flamboyant, extravagant names today in timepieces and jewellery. Started in 1986 in New York, founder Jacob Arabo made his name as the go-to guy for hip-hop artists. Massive, outsized diamond-encrusted chains and jewels—Arabo’s was the look that defined iced-out bling for rappers. When ‘Jacob the Jeweller’ (the moniker given to him by the rapper Notorious B.I.G.) turned his eye to watches, no one expected subdued luxury. At Jacob & Co., watches are just as extravagant in their horological complexity and certainly in the luxury quotient.
Now, the brand is making its full-fledged debut in Singapore with the opening of a standalone boutique in partnership with Sincere Fine Watches, located in Takashimaya Shopping Centre. “The opening of the Singapore boutique gives us the ideal platform to showcase the full breadth of our creativity,” comments Arabo in a press release.
To get to know the brand’s horological highlights, consider a trio of timepieces. The Brilliant Skeleton Northern Lights takes inspiration from the spectacular colours of an aurora. Colour is paramount, with an openworked skeletonised movement, Caliber JCAM01, that was developed specially for the watch. It’s paired with coloured high-tech mineral crystal above the dial in red, green or blue tints that give the watch a spectacular chromatic burst akin to expressions of individuality.
The dazzling aspects of the Northern Lights are also expressed through its gem-set pebble-shaped case. Over 300 white, round-cut diamonds are pavé set by hand, covering the entire case, crown, bezel and buckle—an artistic expression of craftsmanship and extravagance.
The Fleurs de Jardin, meanwhile, looks down to the ground. It imagines, to be precise, an eternal springtime—a charmed garden brought to life with kite-cut coloured gemstone flowers, and a gem in the brand’s signature faceted orb Jacob cut. The Jacob-cut gemstone is one of the brand’s most recognisable signatures, featuring in the evocative and imaginative tableaus of nature and space that are the brand’s watches.
If all that high jewellery craftsmanship weren’t dazzling enough, there’s the movement—the technical mechanics and the literal motion, that is—of the watch. It’s designed as a multilayered three-dimensional botanical greenhouse display, with elements in constant motion to reflect the vivacity of life in springtime.
There is a central vertical axis at the centre, which bears the the Jacob-cut gem at the centre, the time display, the butterfly-shaped flying tourbillon, and a number of gem flowers. This entire structure makes its own, full rotation once every ten minutes. The flying tourbillon is held within an openworked butterfly-shaped cage, and makes its own 60-second revolutions—giving it its own organic rhythms relative to the rest of the garden. The orbital dial, meanwhile, is perched with a spin of its own that turns counter clockwise—vital, so that the time display is always upright and legible.
That’s not all: if you look down into the mother-0f-pearl base dial of the movement, you’ll see that even that rotates counterclockwise in 10-minute cycles, bringing its own kite-cut gem blooms on a balletic spin of colour and brilliance.
But the watch that Jacob & Co. is perhaps most famous for is the Astronomia, a vision of space and astrophysics on the wrist. The brand took this line further in 2022, venturing into the metaverse with a series of one-of-one high jewellery NFT timepieces. Each model of the Astronomia Metaverso collection is named for and pays tribute to the eight planets of our solar system, with a unique openworked and gem-set ‘dome’ design to evoke the surface and look of each planet.
The five planets closest to the sun exist in both physical and digital form, while the furthest planets Saturns, Uranus and Nepture, exist purely in the Metaverse. This Venus edition features a flying tourbillon, an off-centre hour and minute dial, a dome in yellow gold set with white and yellow diamonds and rubies, and a 288-facet Jacob-cut gem that rotates once every minute. Astrophysics, high watchmaking, and high jewellery—a wonderment that can be worn on the wrist.
This boutique will also be the first time that Jacob & Co. presents its jewellery collections in Singapore. A standout to know: the witty, tongue-in-cheek Love Lockdown collection, which playfully subverts the look of handcuffs into jewels that symbolise devotion. One of its most unique styles is the Wristlet, a cuff bracelet for the wrist linked by a chain to a ring, with a hanging key charm. Tantalising, cheeky, and undeniably luxurious.
Visit the Jacob & Co. boutique by Sincere Fine Watches at 391 Orchard Road, #02-12D Takashimaya Shopping Centre.
