Remember that $740,000 Jacob & Co. Caviar Tourbillon covered in yellow sapphires—371 of ‘em, for those counting—that Tom Brady wore to Super Bowl LIX earlier this year? Well, despite its opulence, it’s no longer the most impressive Jacob & Co. in the GOAT’s arsenal. No, folks—that honor has to go to the Twin Turbo Furious Tom Brady Edition, which he wore to the E1 Monaco Grand Prix recently.
A pièce unique developed just for Brady, the Twin Turbo Furious Tom Brady Edition is the Bat Mobile of watches, the Starship Enterprise of micro-mechanics. Jacob & Co’s most complicated watch ever made, it combines automotive-inspired, futuristic aesthetics with sophisticated tech, pops of wild color, and little Brady-inspired Easter eggs, resulting in a unique look that only the NY-based jeweler could pull off.
Since his retirement two years ago, Brady has proven he’s one of the most prolific and dedicated collectors in the watch community. The former New England Patriot has shown off everything from mythical vintage Rolex to modern masterpieces from Richard Mille. Still, few things are cooler in the watch world than getting a completely custom watch, especially when it’s this impressive mechanically..
The first thing to take stock of is the case. The watch is made of lightweight forged carbon, which gives the massive, vaguely tonneau-shaped frame its swirly, black, white, and grey look. The shaped crystal is anti-reflective and domed, while the caseback likewise sports a transparent sapphire crystal for easy movement viewing. Beneath the front crystal, a see-through dial features a “pit board” scale that, when used in conjunction with the watch’s monopusher chronograph function, allows the wearer to compare five consecutive lap times down to the second. Meanwhile, a decimal minute repeater strikes the time on demand using extra-long cathedral gongs while twin triple-axis flying tourbillons—visible beneath the curved sapphire crystal of the dial—create a mesmerizing visual display. Brady’s signature is visible in place of the Jacob & Co. logo at 12 o’clock, leaving no doubt as to who the watch belongs to.
The movement powering the Twin Turbo Furious Tom Brady Edition is no less impressive. The internal engine is made up of a staggering 832 components and 75 jewels. The hand-wound JCFM05 boasts the two aforementioned triple-axis tourbillons; a patented, double-mechanical safety feature for the minute repeater; an integrated chronograph with horizontal column wheel and mono-pusher stop, start, and reset; pit board timer mechanism; 50-hour power reserve, and more. Highly decorated and made largely of titanium, the componentry is visible via the watch’s caseback, while the entire package is finished with a rubber strap.
Despite its longtime association with “iced out” watches dripping in precious stones—the province of rappers, singers, and other celebrities—the truth is that Jacob & Co. has evolved into a designer and producer of stunningly complicated timepieces that compete with the most sophisticated and outrageous designs from the high-end independent world of haute horlogerie. Watches with animated flower gardens, miniature boxing ringsor tiny reproductions of Bugatti engines—these things are fine (mechanical) art as much as they are timekeepers. At several hundred thousand bucks each, they don’t come cheap, to be sure. But great art rarely does.