Replica Jacob and Co. Astronomia Alec Monopoly watch
Street artistAstronomia Alec Monopolyhas lent his own inimitable style to Jacob & Co.’s flagship timepiece, the Astronomia, for a new limited edition collaboration.
A limited run of nine pieces are being produced featuring the recurring themes and characters seen in Monopoly’s body of work. That means a dial featuring statuettes of Scrooge McDuck, Monopoly Man, Money Wings and the almighty dollar.
The characters are drawn by Monopoly before being rendered in CAD to establish working dimensions, each is then hand sculpted and cast in gold before being hand-finished and finally hand-painted by Monopoly using bright acrylic paints.
“This is by far the smallest scale ‘canvas’ I have ever painted. Every element, brushstroke and color choice needed to be carefully thought out and perfectly executed,” says Monopoly. “My street art murals are often free flowing and wild but given the intricacies and meticulous mechanics within these watches I needed to approach the creative process with much more precision and patience.”
This 18k rose gold Astronomia’s manually wound four-arm movement is fixed at the centre of a black night sky base with each arm supporting a different mechanical feat, including a rotating one-carat spherical Jacob-cut diamond, a rotating hand-lacquered magnesium globe, a double axis tourbillon and a watch dial displaying minutes and hours.
“Alec is a young artist that started his career taking risks and not thinking twice about it,” says founder Jacob Arabo. “He acted as if he had nothing to lose and he continued to persist until he broke through to become world famous for his creativity and unique angle. I started out the same way by doing something different and unique and I persisted until I was able to break through.”
Recently, Jacob & Co. announced a partnership with graffiti artist Alec Monopoly. Monopoly previously had a partnership with TAG Heuer, so he is no stranger to the watch world. This first collaborative effort with Jacob & Co. is the fruit of great co-mingling, with the result being a highly colorful art piece based on Jacob & Co.’s famed Astronomia three-dimensional watches. The Astronomia Alec Monopoly watch, with four-arm vertical movement and complications, features tiny characters found in Monopoly’s work.
Crafted in 18-karat rose gold, the watch boasts a sapphire crystal and fours sapphire case sides for easy viewing of the movement and the animation inside. Against a sleek backdrop base that emulates a black night sky with stars, the signature Jacob & Co. Astronomia revolving double-axis tourbillon — opposite the revolving watch dial placed on a patented differential gear system — is perpendicular to the arm that boasts the three-dimensional hand-lacquered magnesium Earth globe on one side and a Jacob & Co. proprietary faceted Jacob Cut one-carat diamond with 288 facets on the opposite side. The diamond makes one rotation per minute. The highly complex JCAM10 caliber boasts 365 parts and offers 60 hours of power reserve.
These rotating complications, though, take a backseat in this watch to Alec Monopoly’s art, which comes into play in the form of whimsical three-dimensional characters and bold colors. To begin with, the hands on the watch dial are bright lime green, a signature Alex Monopoly color. Other colors range from hot pink to bright red, and more.
Jacob & Co has unveiled its first watch made in partnership with internationally renowned contemporary graffiti artist, Alec Monopoly.
The Astronomia Alec Monopoly contains miniature pop characters and images that are staples of Monopoly’s artwork within the iconic Astronomia watch form, with its four-arm vertical movement and exclusive complications including a hand-lacquered globe of the earth rotating every 60 seconds; and a double-axis tourbillon with the first rotation in 60 seconds and the second rotation in five minutes. The ultra-haute jewellery and watchmaker and irreverent street artist Astronomia Alec Monopoly may be strange bedfellows, but they share a vision for taking their passions to the extreme.
“Alec is a young artist that started his career taking risks and not thinking twice about it,” Jacob Arabo, founder of Jacob & Co, says. “He acted as if he had nothing to lose and he continued to persist until he broke through to become world famous for his creativity and unique angle. I started out the same way by doing something different and unique and I persisted until I was able to break through.”
Mr Monopoly recalls running into Mr Arabo at events around the world, and eventually acquired his own Astronomia Tourbillon “and immediately fell in love with the brand”.
“There is just so much thought, time and talent put into each of these timepieces,” Mr Monopoly says. “This collaboration is a work of art within a work of art.”
The Astronomia Alec Monopoly has four main sculptures on the dial: a Monopoly Man holding an ice cream cone with a melting pink dollar sign; an interpretation of Scrooge McDuck, holding a Money Bag with gold coins piled at his feet, Money Wings, and a multicoloured dollar sign with multiple drawings of diamonds, dollar bills and the Jacob & Co. logo.
“I love the juxtaposition of my youthful cartoon characters, brought to life with bright and vivid colors in a timeless watch with stunning complications,” Mr Monopoly says. “It’s the perfect setting for my art and a watch made for true collectors to wear. My hope is this is a watch that gets passed down generations with the same passion and pride as a masterpiece original artwork.”
