Curved sapphire crystal of this 44mm white gold watch lies a vertical movement with three arms (All photos: Jacob & Co)
Did Jacob & Co’s digital Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus come first, or is it the physical, palpable Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus? Like two intricate faces of a single reality, the timepiece created by the New York-based jeweller and watchmaker was executed in both realms with the same intention: designing a graphic and horological interpretation of the planet Venus as a watch.
An extension of its Astronomia collection, whose original concept is to represent a miniature version of our solar system, the Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus takes this metaphorical view one step further in all manners of execution. The cutting-edge concept, grounded in both binary and actual worlds, has been recognised by the academy members of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, who voted for this unprecedented timepiece to compete in the final round of the event often known as the Oscars of watchmaking.
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Under the vast, curved sapphire crystal of this 44mm white gold watch lies a vertical movement with three arms. One is a flying tourbillon, the other is a rotating 288-facet Jacob-cut gem representing a planet and the third is an hour and minute dial, cut from a slab of red spinel. Intertwined around these three arms lies the element that is specific to the Astronomia Metaverso NFT collection. The dome is a three-dimensional, gem-set lattice that Jacob & Co used as a canvas to carry the individual nature of each piece in the collection. In the Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus case, the open-worked dome is made of yellow gold set with white diamonds, yellow diamonds and pink sapphires.
The watch can be purchased on unxd.com, where buyers will first acquire an NFT, a blockchain-secured certificate that is proof of ownership of the digital Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus. This NFT unlocks a set of exclusive experiences designed by Jacob & Co and which will be privy to the NFT owner only, including a series of exclusive events and the opportunity to meet personally with the brand’s founders Jacob Arabo and Ben Arabov. The NFT allows its owner to redeem the physical version of the Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus directly from a Jacob & Co boutique.
This article first appeared on Oct 31, 2022 in The Edge Malaysia.
