Watch Paparazzi

Watchmaker Jacob Arabo spotted wearing Jacob & Co

Jacob Arabo, the man who built Jacob & Co. from a single New York diamond workshop into one of haute horlogerie's most audacious independent maisons, was recently spotted wearing the most extreme piece in his own catalogue: a Piece Unique Jacob & Co. Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon in full blue synthetic sapphire crystal with rose gold finishing. The sighting is notable precisely because Arabo himself — surrounded by extraordinary objects daily — chose this watch to wear publicly, signaling its significance even within his personal collection.

The Jacob & Co. Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon, reference AT110.84.AA.AA.A in its standard sapphire iterations, takes its engineering brief from the Bugatti W16 quad-turbocharged engine. Inside the approximately 54mm × 44mm cushion-shaped case, a miniature 16-cylinder engine block — fully functioning in the sense that its pistons animate via the movement — serves as the architectural centerpiece of the dial. The hand-wound mechanical caliber JCAM37 operates at 21,600 vph, delivers a 50-hour power reserve, and is visible in near-totality through the fully transparent sapphire case construction. On this Piece Unique, the entire case — top crystal, case middle, and caseback — is machined from blue synthetic sapphire, with rose gold used for the crown, pushers, and engine structural elements.

From a collector standpoint, the blue sapphire Piece Unique occupies a singular position. Standard Bugatti Chiron Tourbillons retail between $280,000 and $580,000 depending on material configuration. The Piece Unique designation means this specific watch was produced as a single example, with bespoke case coloration achieved through a proprietary sapphire tinting process that Jacob & Co. developed in-house. Its reported price of $1,500,000 USD reflects both the Piece Unique status and the extreme difficulty of machining colored sapphire at this case scale without cracking.

Arabo's decision to wear this watch — rather than display it — speaks to his philosophy. He has consistently positioned Jacob & Co. as jewelry and watchmaking without apology, targeting collectors who treat ultra-haute horlogerie as wearable sculpture. The Bugatti collaboration, launched in 2019, brought mainstream attention to his movement engineering capabilities and repositioned the brand credibly within serious complications discourse.

On the secondary market, standard Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon references trade at or above retail given constrained production. A confirmed blue sapphire Piece Unique at $1,500,000 has no direct grey market comparator — it is effectively a sui generis object, its value determined entirely by private treaty between motivated parties.