Closer Look: Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon Watch That Honors Bugatti Tourbillon Car

(Portions of this article by Roberta Naas first appeared on Forbes.com.)

In a trailblazing move, Jacob & Co. and Bugatti – long-term partners for multiple highly complicated watch launches over recent years – both unveil new Tourbillons. The new Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon wristwatch takes complicated horology to all new heights with an automaton that emulates a car engine, flying tourbillon escapement and much more. The watch is co-designed by the two outstanding luxury brands to celebrate the launch of Bugatti’s newest hyper sports car called the Tourbillon.

Let’s just put this up front: it is not such a high price to pay about $340,000 for a watch that honors an approximately $4 million car. Is it?

After all, this is a  milestone in watch-and-car relationships. The new three-dimensional watch, shaped like a Bugatti and measuring 52 x 44 mm, is inspired by the new Tourbillon hyper car’s distinctive front grille, side radiator inlets, side windows and seven other design elements. It features a visible V16 engine block automaton that is made from a single block of transparent sapphire. That engine block – part of the caliber JCAM55 hand-wound movement with 557 individual components – makes 20 full animation sequences on a single full wind – emulating the car engine block’s constant moving of 16 pistons in the underlying crankshaft.

That single-axis crankshaft is one of the most elaborate and difficult parts of the watch to craft, with the utmost precision required in order for the cylinders to fire in their appropriate sequences when the automation is activated via a push on the crown. The engine block even has its own exhaust manifolds.

Via an upper crystal, the wearer – and onlookers – are treated to a panoramic view of the movement’s engine block and its sapphire construction. The movement also boasts  (on the left side of the watch) a 30-second flying tourbillon – the fastest tourbillon escapement Jacob & Co. has built — and a 48-hour twin power reserve indicator (on the right).

The finished watch showcases a first of its kind: an off-centered jumping retrograde hours and minutes indication in the center that each start at zero and are designed to replicate the RPM counter on the dashboard of the new car. After the hand complete a 270-degree arc, each jumps back to zero to start again. The hour counter, like an RPM gauge, starts at zero instead of the traditional 12.

The new Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon watch will be made in a limited edition of just 250 pieces – the same as the eponymous hyper sports car. The first 150 pieces will be made in black DLC titanium at $340,000 each.

Heretofore, Jacob & Co. worked with Bugatti on the new Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon watch, but this newest piece, honoring the launch of the Bugatti Tourbillon sports car, takes horology to new heights.

In an exclusive interview,  Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co., said “Inspired by the design and engineering marvels of Bugatti’s latest hyper sports car, aptly named the Tourbillon, this timepiece is not just a hyper watch — it’s also work of art that pays homage to the legacy of Ettore Bugatti, who taught us that engineering was about pushing boundaries.”

He noted that both teams worked together for two years as each pushed its own boundaries. The concept of the Bugatti Tourbillon watch was born entirely from scratch. “The new Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon watch represents just how far the brand has come in the industry. The V16 engine block, crafted from a single flawless sapphire and 16 titanium pins, now operates faster, for longer, and with more efficiency. The flying tourbillon at the 10 o’clock position is now double pace, now making a full rotation in a blistering 30-seconds.And last but not least, we have created a brand new, highly complex, double-retrograde movement, displaying minutes and hours in an entirely new yet intuitively familiar format, resembling the RPM gauge of the car.”

It was back in late 2022 that Bugatti shared its ideas for a new hyper sports car with Jacob & Co. The car, following on the heels of the Chiron, would have an all-new design, engine and other luxury features. Within in months, Jacob & Co.’s top executives visited the Bugatti design studio to witness the new Tourbillon car and in a collaborative effort with Bugatti’s design team (led by Achim Anscheidt and Jan Schmid) conceived of the Jacob & Co. Bugatti Tourbillon watch to go along with the new car. The timepiece was approximately two years in the making.