The orange Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal

The yellow matte Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal

The green Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal

The clear Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal with blue accents.

BUGATTI CHIRON TOURBILLON SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL

Clear

In 2019, Bugatti Automobiles and Jacob & Co. entered into a partnership agreement to create unrivaled hypercar-inspired timepieces. Both firms share a unique focus on extreme luxury, mechanical performance and craft. Bugatti's cutting-edge ethos and designs inspired Jacob & Co. Our “Inspired by the impossible” philosophy has taken us to unprecedented levels of innovation and horological complication.

The bodywork of the Bugatti Chiron exudes power and performance. Jacob & Co. took inspiration from this sculpture to create the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal. The case is a fully transparent volume whose structural elements echo the Chiron's unique design. The signature horseshoe Bugatti grille, the quarter glass, the muscular bodywork, the haunting headlights, Jacob & Co. reinterpreted it all with a unique sense of design and exhilaration. All the way down to the movement, visible through seven sapphire panels. Its automaton is a direct reference to Bugatti’s W16 engine block. Its power reserve is shaped like a fuel gauge, its tourbillon carriage like a radiator and its structure like exhaust pipes. Crafted out of solid transparent sapphire, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal is the ultimate technical expression of the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon. Each one of these spectacular pieces of high watchmaking is an achievement, the result of the utmost craft and skills.

Frontal view of the blue Bugatti Chiron car.

Close-up of the driver's seat-door of the Bugatti Chiron

Close-up of the back of the Bugatti Chiron car.

The W16 engine of the Bugatti Chiron car

Sketches of a horseshoe, the steering wheel, as well as the interior of the car serving as inspiration for the watch.

From a creative partnership to design inspiration. From the first stroke of a pencil through hundreds of iterations. A timepiece like no other comes to life. Shaped like a hypercar. Designed for elation. Transparent to the highest degree.

III

For the first time in watchmaking history, Jacob & Co. designed a movement that is built, works and looks like a motor engine. With the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal, car-inspired watch design is taken to a whole new level. The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal is built around a movement that defies traditional rules. Caliber JCAM37 has a unique architecture, inspired by Bugatti's engines. It features a miniature, W-shaped, 16-cylinder, engine block automaton. It's mounted four coiled springs, acting as shock absorbers. A tubular structure surrounds the 30°-inclined flying tourbillon, like a protective frame. The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal case is crafted out of one single block of sapphire. Created in a highly specialized and secretive laboratory, this synthetic crystal demands an extraordinary set of skills. Growing a crystal that size, cutting it, shaping it, grinding it, polishing it… each step requires great amounts of time, energy and expertise.

Slide Image 1 of 2 - Front Interior Movement of the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal Watch

Back Interior Movement of the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal Watch

Case crafted out of solid transparent sapphire crystal. 578 components. One-minute flying tourbillon with 30° incline. W16 engine-block automaton. 60-hour power reserve.

IIII

The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal is not only a mechanical sculpture and piece of watchmaking art. It's a highly sophisticated system made of 578 individual components. Caliber JCAM37, its three-dimensional architecture and its signature complications have no equivalent.

IofIIII

THE ENGINE BLOCK AUTOMATON

Jacob & Co. revisited the ancient tradition of automata with a W16 engine block animation. The large single block of transparent sapphire recreates the layout of the famed W16 Bugatti engine. At the press of a button, its 16 pistons fire up and down in their sapphire cylinders, driven by a single-block crankshaft. During the 15-second animation sequence, the Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal comes to life.

IIofIIII

THE 30° FLYING TOURBILLON

The Bugatti Chiron Sapphire Crystal’s tourbillon offers enhanced accuracy and a cinematic experience. Especially because it's tilted by 30 degrees. This incline increases the beneficial effects of the tourbillon. Its front-end location and the absence of an upper bridge, which makes it a flying tourbillon, enhance its unique presence.

IIIofIIII

THE POWER RESERVE INDICATOR

The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal has a 60-hour power reserve. Such autonomy is an achievement at that level of high complication. A large barrel provides a steady stream of energy, whose level is indicated by a fuel gauge-type indicator.

IIIIofIIII

THE CROWNS

The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal follows one of Jacob & Co.'s design principles, which is not to use side crowns. Instead, it has three separate ones, located on the 6 o'clock flank of the case. The left crown sets the time on the central hour and minute dial. The center crown winds the movement clockwise, and the automaton counterclockwise. The right crown activates the W16 engine-block animation.

The Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon Sapphire Crystal is a sculptural timepiece designed to bring a hypercar-level exhilaration. It is a conversation piece that's been “Inspired by the impossible”. Jacob & Co.'s philosophy bred a watch that looks, feels, operates and elates like a 300+ mph hypercar.

Slide Image 1 of 6 - The matte, yellow sapphire crystal Bugatti Chiron Tourbillon watch, worn on the left wrist.