Conor McGregor recently bought himself the $1 million Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon with diamonds.
Mixed martial arts champ Conor McGregor is known for his in-your-face style and boldness. That may be why some people in the world aren’t too shocked by McGregor’s newest watch purchase, which he showed off days before losing the UFC 257 fight against Dustin Poirier. The 32-year-old MMA fighter spent $1 million on a Jacob & Co. Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette, and he spent some time ogling a $2 million Jacob & Co. Rasputin Tourbillon erotic watch.
To celebrate his rematch with Poirier, whom he knocked out in the first round in 2014 but lost to last week, the Notorious McGregor decided to invest in time. The Astronomia Tourbillon Baguette watch features a huge open sapphire case. It boasts a backdrop of 342 invisibly set baguette diamonds against which the hypnotic, constantly moving caliber with multi-axis resides.
The orbital display rotates around the dial every 20 minutes and features a hand-painted Earth globe and a 288-faceted Jacob Cut diamond meant to be the sun. The tourbillon escapement (meant to compensate for errors in timekeeping due to the effects of gravity on the watch) also continually rotates. In short, the watch is a veritable dance of sky, moon and earth, as well as shimmer. It is said that McGregor wore this watch when he went to pick up his new Rolls Royce.
Conor McGregor also took a long look at the Jacob & Co. erotic watch that retails for $2 million.
The one-of-a-kind Jacob & Co. erotic watch, also encrusted with diamonds and retailing for $2 million, also caught his eye. The Rasputin Tourbillon White Gold Erotic watch has a lot more to offer than its 500-plus diamonds on the case, bezel and dial, though. It is one of the most complicated watch movements to build: a minute repeater that chimes the time with an automaton moving feature. It is also one of the most revealing watches on the market thanks to a hidden erotic scene.
A look at the 18-karat white gold watch showcases a dazzling dial invisibly set with 188 baguette-cut diamonds weighing nearly 9 carats. At 12 o’clock on the dial, a heart-shaped ruby is flanked on either side by a pair of sculpted and painted swans. In the lower portion of the dial is a solid piece of white gold that is engraved to recall a theater curtain. On demand, the curtains open to reveal a couple engaged in an explicit sexual act. The couple—on a bed of blue sheets—is meticulously hand painted.
Jacob & Co erotic watch features automatons that engage in sexual intercourse when the minute repeater function of the watch is triggered.
In order to open the curtains, and to chime the time, the wearer presses the diamond-adorned “Rasputin” lever on the left side of the case lightly. This reveals three baguette-set rubies. The wearer then releases the lever, which sets the watch in motion. First, the theater curtain opens to reveal a still-life hand-painted couple engaged in an explicit sexual act. Next, the two swan jaquemarts, one at a time, begin pressing their beaks against the gold heart that holds the ruby at 12—chiming the hours and minutes. As the chiming begins and the swans sing their song, the man in the erotic scene moves his body to perform intercourse. When the swans are done chiming, the curtain closes. In reality, the hand-painted man in the scene, is an automaton, allowing him to move arms and torso in a realistic fashion.
Erotic watches have been around since the 1600s when watchmakers would add automatons to their small clocks and later to pocket watches. The automatons would act out different scenes either on the dial or on the case back. With the Jacob & Co. Rasputin, the automaton is hidden by the curtain and only is revealed when the wearer activates the repeater. Jacob & Co. has made erotic watches before, but this one may be the most expensive erotic watch to date.
The Jacob & Co. $2 million Rasputin Tourbillon erotic watch is a unique piece, but Jacob & Co. creates a host of erotic watches.
The watch, its jaquemarts and its automatons, is powered by the 290-part JCAM27 manually wound movement that is also equipped with a one-minute tourbillon escapement (that compensates for errors in timekeeping due to the effects of gravity on the watch when it is in certain positions). The constantly moving tourbillon is visible via the transparent case back.
The 47.6mm watch features a case invisibly set with 178 baguette diamonds and a bezel invisibly set with another 100 baguette diamonds. There are also 188 baguette diamonds on the dial, as mentioned. Diamonds also adorn the crown, the actuating lever, and the curtain. There are also the three aforementioned rubies and the ruby heart. In total, the watch boasts 515 diamonds weighing more than 40 carats. McGregor ended up not buying this particular watch.
(This article by Roberta Naas first appeared on her column on Forbes.com)
