Watch Paparazzi

Artist Alec Monopoly spotted wearing Jacob & Co

Street artist Alec Monopoly was photographed wearing his namesake Jacob & Co collaboration at what appears to be a casual outdoor gathering, the watch's rose-gold case and theatrical dial unmistakable even at a glance. Dressed in a Palm Angels Dubai tee and a St. Barths trucker cap, Monopoly wore the piece alongside heavy diamond chains — a characteristically maximalist flex that, for once, the watch more than matched.

The Jacob & Co Astronomia Tourbillon is one of the most mechanically ambitious wristwatches in contemporary production. Its patented four-arm rotating cage — completing one full revolution per 10 minutes — typically carries a tourbillon, a rotating magnesium sphere representing Earth, a time display, and a Jacob-cut diamond. On the Alec Monopoly edition, the decorative satellites are replaced by the artist's signature pop-culture icons: the top-hatted Monopoly Man, a painted Scrooge McDuck figure, a multicolored dollar-sign sculpture with embedded diamond references, and the artist's recurring 'money wings' motif. The flying tourbillon remains, running at 18,000 vph and beating on a 60-hour power reserve housed within Jacob & Co's in-house JCAM09 movement. The 18K rose gold case measures 50mm — large even by Astronomia standards — with a domed sapphire crystal offering a fishbowl view of the rotating tableau beneath.

From a collector's standpoint, artist-collaboration Astronomias occupy a peculiar and increasingly valuable niche. The standard Astronomia Tourbillon already commands north of $400,000 at retail; the Alec Monopoly edition's nine-piece limitation and the sculptural complexity of its custom figurines push it firmly into trophy-piece territory. Each character is individually hand-painted and three-dimensionally modeled, making micro-variation between pieces inevitable — a feature collectors tend to view as a feature rather than a flaw.

Alec Monopoly — born Alec Andon — built his reputation on wheat-pasting Monopoly Man imagery across global street-art destinations, later transitioning into gallery representation and high-profile brand collaborations. A Jacob & Co partnership is a natural extension: both brand and artist trade in deliberate excess, nostalgia coded through luxury, and a knowing wink at the language of wealth.

On the grey market, examples of the Alec Monopoly Astronomia have traded at or above the $600,000 list price given the nine-piece edition size. For Monopoly to wear his own piece — rather than a loaner — signals genuine affection for the object, which is, in the end, the most credible endorsement any watch can receive.