Jacob & Co TWIN TURBO FURIOUS BAGUETTE WHITE DIAMONDS & BLUE SAPPHIRES TT800.30.BB.UA.A

Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Twin Triple Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater Hands-on At Baselworld 2016, Jacob & Co. continued to impress with new editions of its visually stunning and ultra-complex Astronomia collection, but the real novelty when it comes to new 'spectacle' watches is Twin Turbo Twin Three-Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater. The vaguely named Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Twin Triple-Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater is the best exotic watch because it exists as a poignant answer to a question that no one seems to have ever asked. The question is, why is there no minute repeater with a double triaxial tourbillon? !

For the sake of brevity, I'll call the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Twin-Axis Triple-Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater the "Twin Turbo" lest you have to keep reading long watch names to say it - loud at least once (maybe Twice) Pause for breath. This is exactly the type of spectacular and complex horological novelties that Jacob Arabo is known for making. What does it do? good question. My assessment of why Jacob & Co. continues to produce technically fascinating watches is to keep offering his demanding client base something new, awesome, and truly unorthodox. Love it or hate it, the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo exists in a small group of timepieces that keep the wild nature of the high-end wrist-worn machines we love so much alive.

I will readily admit that I initially wore the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo watch on the wrist backwards, bottom up. It's not immediately obvious that the wedge-shaped superwatch has the twin tourbillons facing you and the time dial a little further away. Alas, the concept of the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo watch is to keep twin triaxial tourbillons staring at you like weird animated eyes at all times.

Designed and produced exclusively for Jacob & Co. in Switzerland, the new caliber JCFM01 hand-wound movement consists of 572 parts, runs at a frequency of 3Hz (21,600bph), and has a power reserve of 72 hours (3 days). The movement is mainly made of steel and titanium, and the movement can be clearly seen from the front and back of the watch. What you see here is an unfinished prototype, and according to Jacob & Co., aspects such as dial transparency and crystal AR coating have not yet been finalized. It is very common that even after a watch movement is complete, there will still be a lot of tweaking and fine-tuning of finishes and other design elements before the final watch is shipped to the customer.

The JCFM01 movement only indicates the time in minutes and hours. The tourbillons all run in a non-60 second sequence, so you can't really read the seconds off the watch. Again, why would you do this? The side-by-side tourbillons rotate around three pivot points, each of which is a "flying" pivot point, meaning there are no bridges. The first tourbillon axis rotates once every 40 seconds; the second time, every 8 minutes; the third time, every 3 minutes. There is a difference between the two tourbillons, which means that their timing rates are averaged.

A tourbillon does not add functional value or accuracy to a timepiece. If anything, the impressive element here is that the movement is still capable of telling time despite the presence of two triple-axis tourbillons. Then there's the impressive cathedral minute repeater. Thanks to the large case cavity and predominantly titanium construction, two hammers strike the uniquely shaped gongs, which resonate to a considerable degree. What's more interesting about the minute repeater is that it is a decimal timer and a quarter repeater. This means that when indicating a part of an hour, the bell will ring in 10-minute segments rather than 15-minute segments. This is to help the minute repeater be easier to read. At least, that's the idea.

The hand-finished mechanical movement contrasts with the very modern case and dial design, giving it a distinctly 'racing world-inspired' feel. The red flange ring and modern font used for the hour numerals are not what you would expect to find on a watch of this complexity and class. Having said that, I think enough complication watches follow a deeply classic design philosophy, so it would be nice to see more complication watches like this one that are more modern in terms of visual appeal. Timepieces like the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Twin Triple Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater help round out the market as far as I'm concerned.

The case of the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Minute Repeater is 51 mm wide, 57.3 mm high and 16.9 mm thick. It's made of grade 5 titanium and carbon fiber, and there appear to be textured sections of vulcanized rubber on the sides of the case. The crown that winds the movement or sets the time folds away like a crank rod. Unfold it to wind the movement, then pull it out one notch to set the time as you would with any other movement. It should come as no surprise that the case is water resistant to 30 meters. Too much case material and the chime of the minute repeater will be too weak.

Jacob & Co. tends to produce new and exotic timepieces in various versions in a series of limited edition series. Black and red titanium versions of the Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Twin Triple Axis Tourbillon Minute Repeater will be produced in a limited run of 18 pieces to kick off the new collection. Given that this is Jacob & Co., I fully expect more precious metal models and possibly diamond models to come in the future. Jacob & Co. has made it its mission to maintain high expectations and the exception to meet the needs of some of the world's most demanding watch buyers. It's nice to see him achieve his goals on a regular basis.