📰 One of Jay-Z’s Coolest Watches Just Sold for $1.5 Million at Auction 📰

 

STYLE

One of Jay-Z’s Coolest Watches Just Sold for $1.5 Million at Auction

The eye-watering sum is going to a very good cause.

''On October 2nd, a star-studded group gathered in Atlantic City for a casino and auction night in honor of Reform Alliance, a charity founded in 2019 that aims to change probation and parole laws and prevent wrongful imprisonment. Jay-Z, one of the foundation’s founding partners, auctioned off his personal Jacob & Co Caviar Tourbillon World Timer, where it hammered for an eye-watering $1.5M.

In case you’re unfamiliar with this particular timepiece, it is—ahem—not subtle. Measuring 47.5mm and housed in an 18-karat white gold case, it’s simply dripping diamonds, with some 294 baguettes inset into the lugs, bezel, crown, and midcase, and a further 204 set within the dial. (Approximately 30.5 carats’ worth, for those who are counting.) Powered by a hand-wound movement, it features a host of impressive complications, including a tourbillon—a device that negates the effects of gravity on a watch movement’s escapement—and three world time displays.

Jacob & Co, founded by jeweler Jacob Arabo in NYC in 1986, has had an outsized hand in popularizing iced-out watches and jewelry for men—especially in the hip hop world, with clients including Diddy, Jay-Z, Drake, 50 Cent, and more. The brand’s quartz-powered Five Time Zone set the stage in 2002 for a collection of pieces that display multiple time zones, which includes the Caviar Tourbillon World Timer. Created for A-list stars such as Jay, it’s the perfect watch for someone with a jet-setting lifestyle — and plenty of cash to spare.

If the Caviar’s movement wasn’t impressive enough, the savoir faire required to craft its stunning dial certainly is: If you look closely, you’ll notice there’s no gold visible between the baguette diamonds, creating a shimmering effect that conveys the image of a seamless, reflective surface. Whoever forked over the $1.5M can rest assured that they nabbed themselves a timepiece that competes artfully in both the horological and jewelry spheres—even if a Jacob & Co. watch is largely a love-it-or-hate-it affair in the collecting world.

...The charity auction—which included a who’s-who list of celebs such as Matthew McConaughey, Lil Kim, and Meek Mill—managed to raise a whopping $24M for Reform Alliance.''