Jacob & Co. Watches: Inside the Billionaire, the Astronomia and the Art of Being Loud
There is a particular kind of watch person who flinches at the words Jacob & Co. You know the type: they own three vintage Speedmasters, they use the word "restrained" as a compliment, and they believe a watch should whisper. Jacob & Co. does not whisper. It buys a billboard.
And yet, dismissing the brand as jewelry for rappers is a lazy read — one that ignores what is happening mechanically underneath all that ice. A skeleton tourbillon movement with white gold bridges, built specifically so that hundreds of large diamonds can float around it, is a genuine engineering problem. So is a triple-axis gravitational tourbillon spinning beneath a hand-painted, rotating Earth. Love it or loathe it, Jacob & Co. watches are doing real watchmaking, just aimed at a completely different emotional target than a Calatrava.
This guide is for the curious: what the brand actually is, what the line-up looks like, what these things cost, and which references are worth your attention if you are even remotely in the market.
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Who Jacob & Co. Actually Is
The story starts on West 47th Street, not in the Vallée de Joux. Jacob Arabo, a Soviet-born immigrant, opened his New York jewelry business in the 1980s and spent the next two decades becoming the jeweler to the hip-hop world — the man behind the oversized diamond chains and iced-out pendants that defined an era of excess. The nickname stuck: Jacob the Jeweler .
Watches followed in the early 2000s. The Five Time Zone was the breakout — a big, colorful, multi-time-zone quartz piece that landed squarely in the middle of the bling era and made the brand a fixture on wrists that had never worn a mechanical watch before. It was loud, it sold, and it gave Jacob & Co. something no amount of advertising can buy: a recognisable design language.
Then came the pivot that matters for collectors. Around 2013 the Astronomia arrived, and in 2016 the first Billionaire landed — a skeleton, one-minute-tourbillon, one-of-one timepiece set entirely with very large diamonds. That watch reset the ceiling for what a "rock watch" could be, both technically and financially. Today the catalogue runs from five-figure sports pieces to seven-figure unique objects, and the brand makes both with a straight face.
The Jacob & Co. Line-Up, Decoded
Before you get lost in the gem-set fever dream, it helps to understand the four tiers the brand actually operates in.
Family What it is Indicative entry price* Who it's for Five Time Zone
Colourful multi-time-zone sports watches, the brand's original signature
Low five figures
Collectors who want the origin story
Epic X
Skeletonised, sporty, "affordable" Jacob & Co. — the gateway drug
From roughly $12,000
First-time Jacob & Co. buyers
Astronomia
Gravitational triple-axis tourbillon, orbiting planets, hand-painted Earth
Roughly $250,000 and up
People who own everything else
Billionaire
High jewelry watchmaking — fully gem-set skeleton tourbillons, usually pièce unique
Seven figures and up
Not you. Probably.
*Jacob & Co. prices are frequently quoted on application and move with gem specification and configuration. Treat these as indicative brackets, not a price list, and confirm with an authorised Jacob & Co. boutique [EXT] before you plan around a number.
The Billionaire Ashoka: 189.13 Carats of Homework
Let's take the most extreme object in the catalogue seriously for a moment, because the specs are genuinely interesting.
The Billionaire Ashoka [EXT] is a pièce unique built around the Ashoka cut — a rectangular, rounded-corner cut with 62 facets, created by William Goldberg and named after the third-century Indian emperor Ashoka Maurya. Jacob & Co. says fewer than 1% of all rough diamonds even have the potential to be Ashoka-cut, which is why these stones are big, flat-ish and relentlessly white.
Specification Billionaire Ashoka Case
18K white gold, 53 × 40 mm, 12 mm thick
Gem-setting
302 white diamonds, 189.13 ct total (290 Ashoka-cut, 11 baguette hour markers)
Movement
Calibre JCAM23, hand-wound skeleton, white gold bridges, 167 components
Complication
One-minute tourbillon, vertically aligned with a large barrel
Power reserve
72 hours (notable for a gem-set piece of this size)
Frequency
21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Edition
Pièce unique
The detail that deserves credit: the movement was designed around the stones. The bridges are white gold and skeletal to the point of being almost invisible, laid out geometrically to mimic diamond facets, and cut shallow enough that the gem weight goes into the crown where the light actually hits. That is not a stock movement with diamonds glued around it.
Pricing here is theatre. Jacob & Co. has never published a figure for the Ashoka; the original 2016 Billionaire was widely reported in the region of $18 million, and press coverage around the Ashoka has put it in the low single-digit millions. If you have to ask, the answer is that you are already on the list or you are not.
Curious how that compares to the rest of the high-jewelry watch world? Our breakdown of Jacob & Co. Billionaire prices and what drives them goes deeper into the numbers.
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What a Jacob & Co. Actually Costs
Here is the honest framing most reviews skip. Jacob & Co. is not one brand at one price; it is a ladder, and the bottom rung is more reachable than the reputation suggests.
Under $10,000: the Five Time Zone range and pre-owned entry points. This is where most people's first Jacob & Co. comes from.
$10,000–$30,000: Epic X territory. Skeletonised, sporty, branded, and the most "watch-for-the-money" thing the company makes. Worth starting with our guide to the most affordable Jacob & Co. watches worth buying .
$250,000 and beyond: Astronomia. The three-axis gravitational tourbillon is the real technical headline. Our Jacob & Co. Astronomia price guide explains why two Astronomia references can differ by $1 million.
Seven figures: Billionaire and the gem-set Astronomia variants. No price list, no waiting list — just a phone call.
One thing to budget for regardless of tier: servicing. A skeleton, high-complication movement with integrated gem-setting is not something your local watchmaker touches. Factor in brand servicing from day one, the same way you would with a Richard Mille.
Jacob & Co. vs Richard Mille: Same Money, Different Argument
The comparison gets made constantly, and it is usually lazy. Both brands sell extreme watches to extreme wallets, but the pitch is almost inverted.
Richard Mille sells engineering as status — tonneau cases, exotic materials, skeletonisation as an expression of performance and motorsport credibility. It is loud in shape, discreet in colour. Jacob & Co. sells spectacle as status — colour, gems, planets, volume. Richard Mille wants you to notice the case construction ; Jacob & Co. wants you to notice, full stop.
Which should you buy? If you care about weight, ergonomics and wearing your watch daily without an audience, Mille is the better tool. If you want a watch that functions as a conversation you control, Jacob & Co. wins on theatre per dollar almost every time. We did the full head-to-head in Jacob & Co. vs Richard Mille: which one actually makes sense .
Who Should (and Shouldn't) Buy a Jacob & Co.
Buy one if:
You already own the "correct" watches and they bore you.
You collect with an eye on design history — the Five Time Zone is a genuine cultural artefact of the 2000s.
You want mechanical credibility and visual impact, which is exactly what the Astronomia delivers.
Skip it if:
You want resale predictability. Outside of a few Astronomia references, second-hand values are soft.
You value understatement. This is not a brand that rewards subtlety.
You are buying your first serious watch. Spend that money on a first serious luxury watch you will wear 300 days a year instead.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a Jacob & Co. watch cost?
Anywhere from the low five figures for a Five Time Zone or a pre-owned piece, through roughly $12,000+ for an Epic X, to $250,000 and well into seven figures for Astronomia and Billionaire references. Prices on high-jewelry pieces are quoted on application.
Is Jacob & Co. a real watch manufacturer?
Yes. The brand develops its own movements in Switzerland — including the skeleton, hand-wound JCAM23 with a one-minute tourbillon used in the Billionaire — and builds complications such as the triple-axis gravitational tourbillon in the Astronomia. Its heritage is American jewelry, but its watchmaking is Swiss.
What is the most expensive Jacob & Co. watch?
The original 2016 Billionaire is generally cited as the most expensive, with reports putting it around $18 million. The Billionaire Ashoka, a pièce unique with 189.13 carats of Ashoka-cut diamonds, is the better-known headline piece of the current era.
Do Jacob & Co. watches hold their value?
Generally, no — most models depreciate like most luxury watches. The exception is limited and unique gem-set pieces, which trade closer to the value of the stones plus a brand premium, and tend to move through private channels rather than the open market.
Where are Jacob & Co. watches made?
The company is headquartered in New York, and its watchmaking is Swiss — movements are developed and assembled in Switzerland, with Jacob & Co. boutiques handling sales and servicing.
Your turn: is the Astronomia the most honest watch of the last decade, or the most unnecessary? Tell us in the comments — and if you want more brand deep-dives like this, subscribe to the newsletter.