Jacob & Co. has made a powerful statement with the release of three jewellery watchmaking marvels: Billionaire III Rubies, featuring 714 emerald-cut rubies (and a few baguette-cut rubies on the skeletonised tourbillon) totalling 147 carats; Billionaire III Emeralds, adorned with 714 emeralds weighing 102 carats; and the pièce de résistance, Billionaire III Rainbow, arguably the most ambitious Rainbow watch ever created. These are incredibly extravagant jewellery watches, from a brand that has made extravagance its signature – individual and collective masterpieces unlike anything we’ve seen before. But they didn’t appear out of thin air.
The groundwork was laid in 2023 when Jacob & Co. unveiled the Billionaire Timeless Treasure, a $20 million marvel showcasing an incredible fusion of jewellery and watchmaking. It featured 216 carats of extremely rare Asscher-cut yellow diamonds on a single watch, which also contained a skeletonised tourbillon and a gem-set movement encircled by tsavorites. Prior to this, since 2016, the Billionaires were all crafted with white diamonds, making the shift to colour a significant development.
While high jewellery watches are not uncommon, Jacob & Co. occupies a unique position in the fully paved segment. Pieces as costly and exceptional as those with gem-set cases, bracelets and movements can certainly be found. So, what sets these three watches apart? Beyond the obvious abundance of gems, the associated price tag (in the 8-figure range) and the blast of colour, the true achievement lies in the stones themselves.
The ruby, the queen of precious stones, is found in very few locations, and only rarely in a size, purity and colour saturation suitable for the intricate context of a watch setting. Unlike, say, a ring, where light can enter the jewel from every angle, the setting in a watch, and particularly a Billionaire, is closed, demanding stones with a delicate balance of light, colour and purity.
Moreover, a ruby like those on the Billionaire III Rubies case, the largest of which is 0.56 carats (enough for a solitaire), weighs 1.5 carats in its rough form. That’s a substantial stone, especially considering that the emerald cut requires rough stones of a specific geometry and generates significant waste during cutting. Remarkably, Jacob & Co.was able to source 714 of them – all unheated and of the same colour. That’s almost a miracle.
Emeralds pose a similar challenge, with scarce sources, modest dimensions and a lack of colour saturation. Finding 714 emeralds that meet all the criteria is neither simple nor easy. However, emeralds present an additional difficulty: unlike rubies, which are essentially the same crystal as sapphires and are very hard, emerald is a form of beryl, which is far softer and inevitably contains inclusions. While for a centre stone these flaws can be managed, the closed setting, emerald cut and the parameters required by Billionaire III Emeralds demanded work of incredible delicacy. Oh, and did I mention they are oil-free? A triple miracle.
The challenge of the Billionaire III Rainbow lies in its colour gradient. While coloured sapphires are no longer a rarity, thanks to the creative vocabulary of jewellery and the popularity of rainbow-set watches throughout the 2010s and 2020s, this piece is a work of a different magnitude. The 580 stones are divided into approximately thirty shades, arranged on two axes in an extremely regular and demanding colour gradient. One last detail: the movement and flange are set with unheated rubies. Beyond the abundance and the jewellery prowess, it’s important to appreciate the discerning eye required to select these specific stones from among thousands, to create a precise and gentle rainbow that explodes with colour.
