CRYPTO MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

19th October 2022

Ethereal currency is here to stay and every high-roller’s favourite watchmaker, Jacob & Co., sure knows it. Celebrating the king of crypto’ with the Astronomia Solar ‘Bitcoin’, a geocentric orrery with planetary bodies, flying tourbillon and intricate décor that goes some way to unpacking the means by which 25 lucky collectors will be paying for theirs.

Squint and you’ll spot a charmingly cartoon-like miniaturised rocketship, soaring as rapidly as Bitcoin itself – itself now a mainstay of the financial universe, rather than the shady outlier it once was.

The three-armed carrousel spins on its large, central axis to the tune of one turn every 10 minutes. As a consequence, the flying tourbillon is really a twin-axis tourbillon, with one-minute and ten-minute 360º periods.

The symbolic décor tops a frame surrounding the movement, mounted on ball beatings. It spins counter-clockwise to the tune of one rotation each eleven minutes.

Adorning the carrousel are a yellow sapphire sun, a 288-facet Jacob-cut diamond moon (1 carat) and a golden Earth, the latter forming a geocentric, rather than traditionally heliocentric take on the solar system.

The bottom plate of the ‘JCAM19’ movement has been decorated as what Jacob & Co. calls an ‘expression platform’: positive engravings of micro-chip componentry, plus keywords describing the crypto’ universe: a “peer to peer” system, regulated by “Blockchain”, where “Bitcoin” is the founding and leading “decentralized digital currency”.

JCAM19’s mechanics are built vertically on top of this base, crafted entirely in titanium and some steel elements. It’s a three-pronged carousel, one of its arms carrying a one-minute ‘flying’ (or single-bridge) tourbillon; the second one holds the hours and minutes dial; the third is topped by a rotating, 3D Bitcoin symbol.

The orbiting dial is mounted on a differential gear that counteracts the movement’s rotation, so it’s always read upright. And in this instance, it’s shaped like a fan: a nod to the ones found in Bitcoin mining farms’ notoriously energy-sapping servers.

Whirring within a sapphire-crystal ‘bubble’, in turn grasped by a titanium cage coated with scratchproof diamond-like carbon (DLC) , the Astronomia Solar Bitcoin engages with a new, young, fintech-savvy generation. Mechanical it may be, but this high-complication timepiece – purchasable only via Bitcoin or altcoin – is a two-pronged reminder, both of the principles underpinning cryptocurrency, and the physical world it catalyses.

As per international regulations, Jacob & Co. is obligated to determine a fixed price in official local currencies – in US dollars, being $348,000. Regardless of where the sale ultimately takes place, payment will be available in the crypto of the buyer’s choosing – Bitcoin or Altcoin – at the going rate on the day of the transaction.

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Jacob & Co.’s mission is to create beautiful, dynamic and unique pieces of watchmaking and jewelry art. The breadth of Jacob & Co.’s offering shows the brand’s insatiable need to produce amazing pieces that the world has never seen before.

If you’re already spending £2.7 million on a new Bugatti Chiron Super Sport, why not throw in a Jacob & Co. Chiron Tourbillon or two? Words by Alex Doak.

Marvel at centuries of craftsmanship, passed through the generations, through open-worked dials. Seeing is believing.