This past June, shortly after Bugatti launched its new $4.3 million car, the luxury jewelry and watch brand Jacob & Co. announced another product resulting from its long-standing collaboration with Bugatti: a watch designed to complement the new car. It was a full-circle moment where car design influenced the world of watches and vice versa.
Together, the two giant companies produced 250 units of this limited-edition watch. Of these, 150 will match the showcase model displayed at the launch, while the remaining 100 will go beyond the initial design, "surpassing the threshold of high-end jewelry manufacturing," said the watchmaker at the time.
Believe it or not, the first person to wear and tuck away this new watch in his jewelry drawer (in this case, we'd recommend a safe) is Jay-Z. The rapper, known as a watch collector, already boasts an impressive resume of acquisitions and access to almost every significant watch released to the market—often custom-made and nearly impossible for the average person to obtain. Now, newly released images reveal that the music mogul has already received his Bugatti Tourbillon watch, officially becoming the first person ever to do so.
The watch is valued at $340,000 or, in other words, about NIS 1,260,000. That's an insane price of over a million shekels for a wristwatch encased in a 52 by 44 mm frame, designed to resemble a car's body, complete with a front grille, side radiator intakes, and large sapphire crystal side windows.
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Disclosure: This news comes directly from Jacob Arabo, founder and CEO of Jacob & Co. and a longtime friend of the rapper, who shared the announcement on his Instagram page. "My dear friend Jay-Z was the first to own the 5 Time Zone watch. 25 years later, he is the first to own the Bugatti Tourbillon." Arabo also posted a video of the rapper on the red carpet in New York, surprising his fans after the musician had been absent from celebrity "games" and media flirtations for quite some time. Posing on the red carpet, giving interviews, and subtly showing off an explosive designer piece—this action speaks volumes.