Watch Paparazzi

Entrepreneur Virgil Abloh spotted wearing Jacob & Co

Virgil Abloh's presence at a Jacob & Co event was never going to be understated, and the watch on his wrist confirmed it. The late designer and cultural polymath — founder of Off-White and Louis Vuitton's Men's Artistic Director — was photographed wearing one of only three examples of the Jacob & Co Caviar Tourbillon in 18K rose gold, entirely paved with 424 baguette-cut rubies. The sighting places two of the most maximalist creative forces in luxury within the same frame.

The Caviar Tourbillon belongs to Jacob & Co's high-complications jewellery-watch segment, a category the brand has aggressively developed since the mid-2010s. The reference features an in-house manual-winding tourbillon movement — the JCAM09 calibre — with a flying tourbillon at approximately six o'clock, visible through a dial that is essentially a mosaic of channel-set baguette rubies arranged in concentric radiating rows. The 44 mm rose-gold case continues the ruby pavé across the bezel and onto the lugs, while a deep-green hand-stitched alligator strap introduces the only relief from the monochromatic red stone-setting. Total ruby weight across dial, bezel, and case sides runs to several carats of matched, heated Burmese material.

From a collector standpoint, the Caviar Tourbillon sits at the intersection of haute joaillerie and haute horlogerie — a space where Graff, Chopard, and Piaget have historically dominated. Jacob & Co's version is notable for its uncompromising stone coverage and the transparency afforded by the open tourbillon cage, giving buyers both gem value and mechanical theatre. The three-piece limitation is not marketing language; it reflects the months of lapidary work required to source and match 424 baguettes of uniform colour and saturation.

Abloh's affinity for Jacob & Co was consistent with his broader aesthetic philosophy: the idea that luxury objects could carry subcultural energy without sacrificing technical rigour. He wore statement watches the way he designed clothes — as objects that operated simultaneously inside and outside established codes of taste.

At a UK list price in the region of £1 million, the Caviar Tourbillon Ruby occupies a tier where grey-market pricing is largely theoretical — secondary transactions, when they occur, are private and typically exceed retail. For a three-piece limited edition associated with one of the most influential designers of the 21st century, any future auction estimate would carry a significant provenance premium.