GEM-SETTINGS
Case: Invisibly-set with 339 Baguette-cut Blue Sapphires ( ≈17.8 ct.)
Crowns: Invisibly-set with 60 Baguette-cut Blue Sapphires (≈2.35 ct.)
Clasp: Invisibly-set with 18 Baguette-cut Blue Sapphires (≈1.75 ct.)
Total: 417 Baguette-cut Blue Sapphires (≈21.9 ct.)
THE PARTNERSHIP
In 2019, Bugatti Automobiles and Jacob & Co. entered into a partnership agreement to create unrivaled hypercar-inspired timepieces. Both firms share a unique focus on extreme luxury, mechanical performance and craft.
Bugatti's cutting-edge ethos and designs inspired Jacob & Co. Our “Inspired by the impossible” philosophy has taken us to unprecedented levels of innovation and horological complication.
DESIGN INSPIRATION
The exterior shape of the Bugatti Chiron exudes power and performance. Jacob & Co. took inspiration from this sculpture to create the case of the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette.
The case is a glass and gem volume whose structural elements echo the Chiron's unique design in the signature horseshoe Bugatti grille, the quarter glass, the muscular bodywork, and the haunting headlights. Jacob & Co. reinterpreted it all with a unique sense of design and exhilaration all the way down to the movement, visible through seven sapphire panels.
Its automaton is a direct reference to Bugatti’s W16 engine block. Its power reserve is shaped like a fuel gauge, its tourbillon carriage like a radiator, and its structure like exhaust pipes.
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette is its high jewelry version, invisibly-set with baguette-cut gems. Developing a high complication timepiece that has no equivalent is one of Jacob & Co.’s signature skills. Making a high jewelry version of it is another. Adding hundreds of exquisite, baguette-cut gems to a 500+ component watch is built in Jacob & Co.’s culture.
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette case is a glass and metal sculpture. Seven sapphire glass panels open a 360° view on the movement. Its structural elements echo the Chiron's unique design, including its W-16 engine.
It takes the best hands, the best gems and the best know-how to set a Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette. The case is covered in 341 gems, with 60 more on the crowns and 18 on the clasp. Each one is baguette-cut and prepared for the invisible setting.
The gem selection and setting process devised by Jacob & Co. is extremely demanding. Drawing from over 30 years of experience in high jewelry, it results in a perfectly smooth, seamless surface of gleaming gems.
For the first time in watchmaking history, Jacob & Co. designed a movement that is built, works and looks like a motor engine. With the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette, car-inspired watch design is taken to a whole new level.
THE COMPLICATION AND FEATURES
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon is not only a mechanical sculpture and piece of watchmaking art, it's a highly sophisticated system made of 578 individual components. Caliber JCAM37, its three-dimensional architecture and its signature complications have no equivalent.
THE ENGINE BLOCK AUTOMATON
Jacob & Co. revisited the ancient tradition of automata with a W16 engine block animation. The large single block of transparent sapphire recreates the layout of the famed W16 Bugatti engine. At the press of a button, its 16 pistons fire up and down in their sapphire cylinders, driven by a single-block crankshaft. During the 15-second animation sequence, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette comes to life.
THE 30° FLYING TOURBILLON
The Bugatti Chiron Baguette's tourbillon offers enhanced accuracy and a cinematic experience. Especially because it's tilted by 30 degrees. This incline increases the beneficial effects of the tourbillon. Its front-end location and the absence of an upper bridge, which makes it a flying tourbillon, enhance its unique presence.
THE POWER RESERVE INDICATOR
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette has a 60-hour power reserve. Such autonomy is an achievement at that level of high complication. A large barrel provides a steady stream of energy, whose level is indicated by a fuel gauge-type indicator.
THE CROWNS
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette follows one of Jacob & Co.'s design principles, which is not to use side crowns. Instead, it has three separate ones, located on the 6 o'clock flank of the case. The left crown sets the time on the central hour and minute dial. The center crown winds the movement clockwise, and the automaton counterclockwise. The right crown activates the W16 engine-block animation.
THE LIFE STYLE
The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Baguette is a sculptural timepiece designed to bring a hypercar-level exhilaration. It is a conversation piece that's been “Inspired by the impossible”. Jacob & Co.'s philosophy bred a watch that looks, feels, operates and elates like a 300+ mph hypercar.
