Have you ever been blinded by beauty? No, you haven’t! Unless you’re looking at the new Brilliant Flying Tourbillon Baguette Pastel Arlequino. It is breaking the wheel of watchmaking quite literally by setting 54 white diamonds directly onto the balance wheel. The luxury watchmaker challenged itself to deliver beauty with mechanical brilliance by choosing to adorn the oscillator, where weight distribution is fundamental to performance. And it succeeded! Watch lovers get the benefit of what Jacob & Co. describes as the first diamond-set balance wheel in modern horology. Let’s get into colourful details because this watch is an ode to just that. Just as the diamonds take a detour from the norm, the arrangement of the coloured gems is equally pathbreaking, literally!
Instead of following safe, predictable color spectrums and a rainbow gradient, the Arlequino theme allows the house to pit high-contrast pastel sapphires (pinks, lavenders, blues, greens) directly against one another in a precise geometric mosaic, reported Monochrome. The Jacob & Co, Brilliant Flying Tourbillon Baguette Pastel Arlequino takes pleasure in unpredictability and sheer boldness on every front. The $693,000 timepiece boasts 54 brilliant-cut white diamonds on its balance wheel, oscillating at 21,600 vph in tandem with the flying tourbillon’s rotation. Believe it or not, in 24 hours, the diamond-set balance completes 518,400 vibrations while the tourbillon cage makes 1,440 rotations. Over its full 72-hour power reserve the watch’s 54 diamonds “dance” more than 1.55 million times. A celebratory feat, it showcases the guts and gumption of ‘Jacob the Jeweler,’ as a watch’s regulating organ dons an ornamental avatar without compromising chronometric performance.
Aesthetically speaking, the Pastel Arlequino mesmerises onlookers with a 42mm white-gold case and a dial, crown and buckle collectively set with 366 pastel sapphires, while 56 white diamonds appear across the case, dial and crown. The craftsmanship is commendable for this flawless, invisibly set arrangement does oodles to add personality to the luxury watch, while being inspired by the Italian commedia dell’arte. Perhaps the only dainty elements here are the leaf-shaped hands indicating the time. Powering the watch is a new self-winding Jacob & Co. calibre JCFA02 with 184 functions and a 72-hour power reserve. The movement bridges are set with another 234 brilliant-cut diamonds weighing approximately 0.69 carats. The neutral-hued alligator-leather strap features an 18-karat white-gold tang buckle set with 21 baguette-cut pastel sapphires weighing approximately 1.52 carats. Altogether, this brings the dazzle to 710 decorative gemstones comprising 366 sapphires and 344 diamonds. Truly, it is a pièce unique, available for an astronomical price of $693,000.
