Jacob & Co.

Collaboration every year since 2019

After finishing photographing the Bugatti Tourbillon exhibited in the courtyard of the Meiji Memorial Hall, I happened to look over to a corner of the venue and noticed two watches respectfully displayed in their cases. A man standing guard next to them told me that they were a collaboration between Jacob & Co. and the Bugatti Tourbillon. Jacob & Co. is a New York-based luxury jewelry and watch brand founded in 1986. It seems that the Five Time Zone model worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell attracted attention and quickly rose to prominence as a luxury watch.

This is not the first time Jacob & Co. and Bugatti have collaborated on a watch. Starting with a collaboration watch featuring the Chiron, which Bugatti produced at the time to celebrate its 110th anniversary in 2019, they have released a collaborative model every year since.

At the time, the watch also incorporated a mechanism inspired by the Chiron’s 8.0-liter W16 quad-turbo engine (with buttons recreating the movement of a miniature W16 crank and cylinders inside the watch), asserting that it was not simply a name-lending collaboration. Since the name of this Tourbillon comes from the ultra-complex mechanism of a wristwatch, it is clear that collaboration is much easier than with the Chiron.

A miniature 8.3-liter V16

The instrument panel of the Bugatti Tourbillon car is inspired by its ultra-complex mechanism, but the face of this collaboration watch features the instrument panel itself, and beneath it is, of course, a miniature of the 8.3-liter V16 naturally aspirated engine that is the heart of the Bugatti Tourbillon.

Incidentally, both the collaboration watch with the Chiron and the collaboration watch with the Tourbillon have a built-in tourbillon mechanism. The price is much cheaper than a tourbillon in a car, about 10%, or about 60 million yen. Just like hypercar brands like Bugatti, there is a world of extravagant luxury watches. The Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon is limited to 150 pieces.

PHOTO/GENROQ, SKY Group

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The launch of the Bugatti Tourbillon, which boasts an 8.3-liter V16 engine producing 1,800 horsepower. “Only a dozen will be allocated to Japan?”

On November 7th, Bugatti held a launch event for their latest hypercar, the Tourbillon, in Minato Ward, Tokyo. This is the successor to the Chiron, but it is equipped with an 8.3-liter V16 naturally aspirated engine, combining an astonishing three motors to make it Bugatti’s first plug-in hybrid hyper sports car.