One of Jay-Z’s Coolest Watches Just Sold for $1.5 Million at Auction

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On October 2nd, a star-studded group gathered in Atlantic City for a casino and auction night in honor of Reform Alliance, a charity founded in 2019 that aims to change probation and parole laws and prevent wrongful imprisonment. Jay-Z, one of the foundation’s founding partners, auctioned off his personal Jacob & Co Caviar Tourbillon World Timer, where it hammered for an eye-watering $1.5M.

In case you’re unfamiliar with this particular timepiece, it is—ahem—not subtle. Measuring 47.5mm and housed in an 18-karat white gold case, it’s simply dripping diamonds, with some 294 baguettes inset into the lugs, bezel, crown, and midcase, and a further 204 set within the dial. (Approximately 30.5 carats’ worth, for those who are counting.) Powered by a hand-wound movement, it features a host of impressive complications, including a tourbillon—a device that negates the effects of gravity on a watch movement’s escapement—and three world time displays.

Jacob & Co, founded by jeweler Jacob Arabo in NYC in 1986, has had an outsized hand in popularizing iced-out watches and jewelry for men—especially in the hip hop world, with clients including Diddy, Jay-Z, Drake, 50 Cent, and more. The brand’s quartz-powered Five Time Zone set the stage in 2002 for a collection of pieces that display multiple time zones, which includes the Caviar Tourbillon World Timer. Created for A-list stars such as Jay, it’s the perfect watch for someone with a jet-setting lifestyle — and plenty of cash to spare.

If the Caviar’s movement wasn’t impressive enough, the savoir faire required to craft its stunning dial certainly is: If you look closely, you’ll notice there’s no gold visible between the baguette diamonds, creating a shimmering effect that conveys the image of a seamless, reflective surface. Whoever forked over the $1.5M can rest assured that they nabbed themselves a timepiece that competes artfully in both the horological and jewelry spheres—even if a Jacob & Co. watch is largely a love-it-or-hate-it affair in the collecting world.

Of course, the watch isn’t really the point here. The charity auction—which included a who’s-who list of celebs such as Matthew McConaughey, Lil Kim, and Meek Mill—managed to raise a whopping $24M for Reform Alliance. Not a bad take for an evening!

Kevin Hart’s Patek Philippe ref. 5004P

Also in attendance at the Reform Alliance casino and auction night was none other than noted watch collector Kevin Hart, who chose a Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Split Seconds Chronograph 5004P for the occasion. A serious “watch guy’s watch,” the 5004P takes a perpetual calendar and combines it not with a standard chronograph—which would be impressive enough—but with a split-seconds chronograph that can measure two events simultaneously. Though its movement is based on a third-party Lemania caliber, the watch is so complicated to produce that Patek was only able to make 12 of them per year. Hart’s “P” version, set in a platinum case, is a stunning piece of horological art.

John Mayer’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Ref. 15550BA

There’s nothing quite like a solid-gold Royal Oak to spruce up an otherwise casual look. Super-collector John Mayer wore a turquoise-dial ref. 15550BA on Jimmy Fallon this week—a surprising pick given its 37mm diameter and Mayer’s 6’3” frame, though of course, smaller watches are coming back around. Housed in an 18-karat yellow gold case with a matching, integrated bracelet, the 15550BA features a dial cut from a piece of turquoise that measures just 0.75mm thick; applied, yellow gold indices; gold hands; and a date window at 3 o’clock. Released in March of 2023, it’s considered a midsize Royal Oak, and clearly wears beautifully on both men’s and women’s wrists.

Bad Bunny’s Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph 25978BC

If Jay-Z’s iced-out Jacob & Co didn’t quite do it for you, what do you say to this bad boy as worn by Bad Bunny? The Puerto Rican rapper and singer rocked the shiniest Royal Oak in the land—a reference 25978BC—at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Awards in Coral Gables, Florida. Measuring 39mm in white gold, it’s by no means the company’s largest Royal Oak, though the 892 brilliant-cut diamonds set into every conceivable surface certainly make it wear, well, larger. (The pavé-diamond dial, inset with mother of pearl chronograph totalizers and eight brilliant-cut ruby indices, does indeed make it look like the sister watch to the Caviar Tourbillon World Timer.)

Emma Chamberlain’s Cartier Baignoire

Now here’s something you don’t see every day (and props to Dimepiece for spotting it first): YouTuber and influencer Emma Chamberlain wearing a Cartier Baignoire as a choker at the Miu Miu show this week. The Baignoire, an elegant ladies’s watch released in 1958, is available in a wide array of configurations, but the Mini model in gold, clocking in at just 18.7mm wide, fit right around Chamberlain’s neck. Furthering an innovative trend and presumably rendering it nigh impossible to tell the time without a mirror, this is a move that should only ever be tried by a fashionable woman with a Cartier—or, in Rhianna’s case, with a Jacob & Co—and not ever by a grown-ass man with a Panerai.