Watch Paparazzi

Musician Michael Blakey spotted wearing Jacob & Co

Record producer Michael Blakey was recently spotted on camera wearing a Jacob & Co Epic X Chrono, the Geneva-based brand's flagship sports chronograph that has become a calling card for entertainers and creative industry figures who favor watches that push well beyond conventional horological aesthetics. The sighting places Blakey at what appears to be a desk or studio environment, the white rubber strap and rose gold case catching the light against his printed sleeve.

The Epic X Chrono houses Jacob & Co's in-house JCAM18 automatic bi-compax movement, offering a 48-hour power reserve and a column-wheel chronograph mechanism. The 47mm case is an architectural exercise: a forged 18K rose gold frame is ringed by a white ceramic bezel constructed from six individually beveled ceramic segments, a construction that gives the Epic X its immediately recognizable multi-faceted silhouette. The green skeleton dial — translucent and layered — reveals gear trains and sub-registers through a lacquered green sapphire crystal stack, while the red central chronograph seconds hand adds a sharp chromatic contrast.

Among collectors, the Epic X Chrono occupies an interesting position. It is unambiguously a statement watch, more aligned with the haute horlogerie-meets-streetwear sensibility that Jacob & Co has cultivated since its Tribeca origins, rather than the restrained tool-watch tradition. The white ceramic and rose gold combination is the most commercially successful variant, offering visual contrast that photographs well — a not-insignificant factor in the social-media era that has driven much of the brand's growth.

Michael Blakey, known for his work managing and producing acts across rock and pop, has long moved in circles where watch collecting signals both taste and success. The Epic X Chrono, retailing at approximately $36,000, sits at an accessible entry point within Jacob & Co's broader catalog, which climbs into seven figures with complications like the Astronomia Tourbillon.

On the secondary market, Epic X Chrono references in rose gold with ceramic tend to trade at or slightly below retail, reflecting healthy but not speculative demand. For Blakey, the choice reads less as investment thesis and more as a deliberate expression of personality — which is precisely the audience Jacob & Co designed this watch for.