Watch Paparazzi

Footballer Luis Figo spotted wearing Jacob & Co

Luis Figo, the Portuguese football legend who redefined the left-wing position throughout the late 1990s and 2000s, was recently photographed wearing one of Jacob & Co's most technically ambitious and visually confrontational creations: the Epic SF24 Tourbillon in 18K rose gold, reference ES802.20.BD.BD.A, set from the factory with 104 baguette-cut diamonds.

The Jacob & Co Epic SF24 Tourbillon is far more than a stone-set statement piece. At its core sits a hand-wound movement — Calibre JCAM37 — engineered entirely in-house at Jacob & Co's Geneva manufacture. The movement powers a tourbillon regulator rotating once per minute alongside a genuine 24-hour display, meaning the hour hand completes only one full revolution per day rather than two, offering an immediate and intuitive read of AM versus PM. Power reserve stands at approximately 60 hours. The case measures 44mm in diameter with a pronounced cushion-shaped profile, and in this ES802.20.BD.BD.A configuration the 18K rose gold case and bracelet are factory-set with 104 baguette diamonds, a labor-intensive gem-setting process that typically requires hundreds of hours of skilled hand-work at Jacob & Co's dedicated atelier.

From a collector standpoint, the Epic SF24 occupies a specific niche: it is a serious horological exercise wrapped inside Jacob & Co's characteristically maximalist aesthetic. The brand, founded by Jacob Arabo in New York in 1986, built its early reputation supplying diamond-set watches to hip-hop royalty before pivoting decisively toward haute horlogerie with movements of genuine credibility. The SF24 complication itself is relatively rare in the independent watchmaking landscape, making this piece a legitimate technical talking point beyond its obvious decorative ambition. The 101-piece production limit reinforces its exclusivity.

Figo, now 51, has long cultivated an image that balances elegance with bold personal expression — entirely consistent with a watch retailing at a UK list price of £285,000. His playing career took him from Sporting CP to Barcelona, then controversially to Real Madrid, earning him the 2000 Ballon d'Or and the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year award. His taste in watchmaking has always leaned toward the theatrical.

On the secondary market, diamond-set Jacob & Co grands complications tend to hold values close to retail given their limited production and the intrinsic value of the stone setting. A grey-market price for the ES802.20.BD.BD.A, where transactions occur, typically tracks at or marginally below the £285,000 list figure depending on availability and accompanying paperwork.