Let’s be real for a second, everyone has flicked through a Guiness Book of World Records at some point and thought ‘I could do that’. Certainly, the watchmaking world is full of designers and engineers determined to add superlatives to their creations. The world’s thinnest watch, the deepest dive watch and now in the case of the new Jacob & Co. God of Time, the world’s fastest tourbillon.
The tourbillon was first invented by Abraham Louis Breguet as a mechanism to offset the impact of gravity on a watch’s movement. At the time this primarily meant pocket watches, which are stored in the same orientation all day meaning that gravity is pulling on the watch’s balance spring in the same direction all the time, which impacts its oscillation and therefore its accuracy. A tourbillon cage rotates the balance as it operates meaning that gravity is pulling it in constantly different directions which reduces its impact.
For a wristwatch, the constant motion of your wrist achieves much the same effect, which is why many people describe tourbillons as somewhat redundant. In many cases they have become glorified small seconds indicators as watchmakers build them to rotate at a rate of once per minute. It’s this rate of rotation that Jacob & Co. are referring to when they state that the God of Time is the fastest tourbillon in the world as it rotates at a rate of once per four seconds. That is ludicrously fast.
The speed of a tourbillon determines a couple of things. Primarily it affects accuracy, a faster rotation means the balance is in new positions more often, so it’s faster to correct any positional inaccuracies that may occur and is better at adapting to random changes. However, speed also affects energy consumption, the faster it is, the more energy it consumes. Which is why one-minute tourbillons are the standard because they balance those factors.
In order to achieve the 4-second tourbillon, Jacob & Co. have produced a new movement solely dedicated to the task, the JCAM60. Creating a fast tourbillon is all about reducing weight while maximising force and to that end, the tourbillon has been reduced to its most essential components and little else. The cage is made from titanium and weighs just 0.27g. Meanwhile the balance wheel is fitted with eight gold weights and the spring features a Breguet overcoil, for improved isochronism.
For the power supply, the watch uses a stacked double barrel to provide enough force to move the tourbillon as fast as possible. Somewhat counterintuitively, the amount of force required to move the tourbillon at this speed is enough to break the escapement at its centre, which means that Jacob & Co. had to integrate a constant force mechanism to reduce the amount of force being transmitted directly to the escapement. For this they’ve used a remontoire, which in simplified terms is essentially a smaller mainspring that is wound by the primary barrels and then goes on to provide power to the escapement at a lower but more consistent level – essentially acting as a gearing system to reduce force.
Because of the complexity of this system, there was no room for the winding mechanism as well, so Jacob & Co. had to move the crown to the left side of the watch at 9 o’clock. The crown and 44.5mm case are made from rose gold and feature fluted edges inspired by Greek Ionic columns. That’s because the theme and aesthetic of the watch are informed by the titular God of Time motif. The god of time, sometimes called a titan, is Chronos – who you can see depicted on the dial in an extremely precise Metiers d’Art micro-sculpture. He is cradling the tourbillon like a child on his knee, which is somewhat problematic if you’re versed in your mythology because you know what he did to his kids. I wonder how a tourbillon tastes.
The God of Time caseback features a translucent blue exhibition window allowing you glimpses of the movement inside. On top of that is a depiction of Jacob Arabo himself and an inscription commemorating his 60th birthday, which the watch is dedicated to. Personally, I wish it wasn’t there because of the undeniable ego of it, however I suspect it doesn’t matter too much to Jacob & Co customers because that spectacle (of which Arabo is a master) is part of the attraction.
For pricing and availability, the Jacob & Co. God of Time is $360,000 (approx. £268,000) in a limited edition of 60 pieces. I honestly can’t think of a more Jacob & Co. project than this – to turn a complication that is predominantly about the appearance and spectacle of the rotating cage (in the context of wristwatch) and double down on it to this extent.
Price and Specs:
More details at Jacob & Co.
