A billionaire can only have so many private jets. Catering to the problems of the 0.001%, American watch manufacturer Jacob & Co. has released the Billionaire Timeless Treasure. Kindly solving the issue of having more money than you know what to do with, the Billionaire Timeless Treasure is designed for those with ever-growing net worths. The antithesis to the trend towards stealth wealth and quiet luxury, the Jacob & Co. Billionaire Timeless Treasure is a $20,000,000USD watch that quite literally lets you wear your trust fund on your wrist.
Unveiled during this year’s Watches & Wonders convention in Geneva, the Jacob & Co. Billionaire Timeless Treasure took three-and-a-half years to come to life. Not merely because of the workmanship, but due to the difficulty in sourcing rare high-quality yellow diamonds that meet the watchmaker’s exacting standards. The entire case and bracelet of the timepiece are is studded with the rare gems, with 425 yellow diamonds (around 880 carats worth) forming a mosaic while green tsavorites surround the dial. In creating the Billionaire Timeless Treasure, Jacob & Co. claims to have “almost dried up the market for exceptionally large and high-quality yellow diamonds.”
“With white diamonds, we receive lots with dozens or hundreds of gems,” explained Seraina Wicht, head of gemology watch production at Jacob & Co. “For Billionaire Timeless Treasure, we were receiving stones one by one, two by two, three at the most. It happened several times that we spent several weeks without receiving a single one that was worthy of the piece.”
The Billionaire Timeless Treasure is designed to look like nothing but the gems are holding the watch together. To achieve this effect, Jacob & Co. used a yellow gold lattice structure to encase the movement and set the yellow diamonds on.
However, it isn’t just the yellow diamonds that impress on the Billionaire Timeless Treasure. The in-house calibre JCAM39 — the skeletonised movement Jacob & Co. uses in all its Billionaire timepieces — features an impossibly thin tourbillon. Not one to leave the movement unbedazzled, Jacob & Co. has placed an additional 57 yellow baguette cut diamonds on the skeletonised calibre itself, which is surrounded by 76 emerald-cut green tsavorites. Flip the timepiece over and you’ll find a touch of irreverence — the word ‘billionaire’ engraved in cursive lowercase letters with a smiley face within the letter ‘o’.
The Billionaire Timeless Treasure marks the fourth addition to the Jacob & Co. Billionaire line, with DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather notable owners of the diamond-studded timepieces.
Words by T. Angel
