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Luxury watches are not just about telling the time anymore. A case in point, acclaimed timepiece and diamond jewelry house Jacob & Co.'s Astronomia Casino, which features a fully-operational miniature roulette wheel beneath the watch's sapphire crystal dome case. The Astronomia Casino's wheel, rendered in a spectacular array of green, red, and black enamel with mahogany inlays, is set in motion by a button at the eight o'clock position (which also winds the power reserve for the animation).

This exceptional timepiece, the latest in Jacob & Co.'s signature Astronomia collection of celestial-themed timepieces, can be personalized with a mother of pearl insert placed by Jacob & Co. craftsmen on the owner's lucky number.

Whereas the tourbillon was originally invented to be a single-axis, rotating cage to carry the regulating organ of a mechanical pocket watch for improved timekeeping performance, the Astronomia Tourbillon brings this 224-year-old invention to breathtaking levels of modern refinement and complexity.

The double-axis tourbillon of the Astronomia Casino is at the forefront of modern watchmaking. The flying tourbillon's delicately decorated cage encapsulates the balance wheel, hairspring, escape wheel and a number of other crucially important components. Characterized by this open-worked cage, this outstanding tourbillon rotates on two axes simultaneously. It is a constellation of superbly finished components that, when assembled and fine-tuned expertly, allows the JCAM10 to keep accurate time throughout its 60-hour power reserve.

A full rotation on the 1st axis takes exactly 60 seconds, as a nod towards the traditional single-axis tourbillon. The 2nd axis of rotation is made possible by the 10-minute, four-arm rotating platform of the Astronomia Tourbillon. This makes for a bold new look at how tourbillons can function, when engineered with cutting-edge, ultra-modern technologies and timeless horological heritage in mind.

Never before has there been a grand complication timepiece with a roulette wheel that spins, allowing owners to play their favorite game of chance at any time. Though the Astronomia Casino is simple to use and enjoy, the technical solutions to actually make it work seamlessly took more than a year of development time.

Separated from the movement by a sapphire crystal, the ceramic ball can bounce with abandon with no danger of impacting the functioning of the timepiece.

The Jacob-Cut diamond starts out as a much larger rough diamond. First, a rough diamond big enough has to be found, and the purity, clarity, and color has to be of the highest quality both inside and out, and there can be no inclusions. If they start to cut the diamond and find an inclusion, the entire piece will be ruined.

Next, the diamond is cut by machine into a round shape, close in size to the final diamond.

Then, the gem cutter shapes the stone by hand, cutting each individual facet (of 288). This has to be done slowly and carefully, as the stone has to be perfectly round and symmetrical. The danger is that the stone will become oblong and not round. To be used in the Astronomia Collection, the Jacob-cut diamond has to be completely round and weigh exactly as much as the other three satellites (time display, triple-axis tourbillon, magnesium globe).

During the process, if the gem cutter puts slightly too much pressure while adding the facets, too much of the diamond will be cut away, and the ball will end up smaller than the desired diameter. The cutting process takes at least two weeks of dedicated, painstaking work.

To make the final one-carat, Jacob-cut diamond with 288 facets, more than half of the initial rough diamond will be cut away.

The complexity of cutting the 288 facets by hand and making sure everything is symmetrical and the diamond is absolutely round, is what makes the Jacob & Co. diamond used in the Astronomia collection so special.

The massive Astronomia Casino box is hand-crafted from black-lacquered natural wood with a Macassar ebony veneer, coated with brilliant sheen. The metal decoration on all five sides is varnished 18K 5N Red Gold, and the hardware is 18K 5N Red Gold. Made in France, there is a window in the top showing the watch in all its glory. The frame holding the Astronomia Casino is in lacquered wood, and removable.

The globe is made of blue-lacquered magnesium with rose gold continents to ensure consistency in weight, as all four satellites have to weigh exactly the same. The globe rotates on itself in 30 seconds, while traveling around the dial in 10 minutes.

The Astronomia Casino's case measures 47 millimeters in diameter and 24 millimeters thick between the highest point of its specially domed front sapphire crystal and the lowest point of its case. Crafted from 18K rose gold, the case features four sapphire crystal windows installed throughout the periphery, allowing for unhindered viewing of the spectacular double-axis tourbillon caliber and the functioning roulette wheel.

The time display sub-dial of the Astronomia Casino is driven through an infinitesimal differential system that allows it to always remain in the correct, 12/6 position as it rotates together with the movement's four-armed platform across the front of the Astronomia. The Roman numerals on the skeletonized dial are hand-engraved and filled with black lacquer, while the hand-finished hands appear in gun blue metallic.