Greeted by thousands in Riyadh’s Mansool Park stadium and home to his new club Al Nassr, CR7 was wearing a unique piece by Jacob & Co., entirely set with green gems – Jacob & Co. Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites. Cristiano Ronaldo and Jacob & Co. chose the high watchmaking, high jewellery creation as the perfect piece to represent his arrival in his new country, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
5-time Ballon d’Or football player Cristiano Ronaldo is the most loyal and most prolific Jacob & Co. ambassador. Portugal’s national team captain is the owner of several high complication and high jewelry Jacob & Co. timepieces, including the unique piece he was wearing when arriving in Saudi Arabia : the Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites. As of January 2023, Cristiano Ronaldo is the new star of Riyadh’s Al Nassr, Saudi Arabia’s most successful club.
Perfectly green
Green being the color of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Islam, Cristiano Ronaldo wore a timepiece that honors his new adoptive country. The Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites is the most lavish and extensive timepiece set with tsavorites ever crafted. Tsavorite is a type of green, grossular garnet, whose name is derived from the Kenya region of Tsavo, near where it was originally mined.
Green gems hardly lend themselves to extensive setting. Emeralds are too fragile to be exposed on the surface of a watch worn on the wrist. Green sapphires are not deemed satisfactory enough by Jacob & Co., as their hue lacks depth and consistence. Thanks to their intense color, great transparency and deep glow, tsavorites are the perfect fir for the demanding use Jacob & Co. makes of it.
Awash with gems
The Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites is entirely covered in them. A total of 224 gems are set on the surface of the 47-mm Caviar case. 130 more are laid out on the dial and a final 18 on the buckle. These 373 gems total up 38.57 ct of tsavorites. Their roughs have been chosen directly from the mine because of their rectangular-enough shape.
Then they’ve been cut to the exacting standards of Jacob & Co. to become baguettes, these perfectly rectangular gemstones. This is a process that discards a larger portion of the rough than most other cuts. This contributes to making baguettes the queens of high jewelry watchmaking, and as such, a favorite of Jacob & Co. The Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites entire process of gem-selection, gem-cutting, gem-setting and watchmaking spans over more than an entire year.
Demanding craft
On the curved and wide Caviar case, the selected tsavorites are laid out adjacent to one another, without the merest gap between them, thanks to the highly skilled work of invisible setting. Instead of setting the gems in a hole and then pushing back some gold on top to set them, these gems have undergone an entirely different process. Along each of their two longest edges, underneath the table and invisible to the naked eye, a groove has been cut. This indentation lets Jacob & Co.‘s gem-setters clip the gems on a white gold structure that’s been prepared especially to receive them, and perfectly keep them in place.
This is demanding and skilled work to the extreme, especially on so large an extent. Jacob & Co. has applied this unique process to the Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites’ case, lugs, crown, dial and even buckle. One last gem, a 1.2 ct rose-cut tsavorite, has been set inside the crown head.
Upper-crust mechanics
Inside the Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites beats a heart made of high mechanics and high jewelry as well. Caliber JCAA43 is a large, self-winding mechanical caliber regulated by a wide, flying tourbillon. Its carriage is openwork and gold-plated, crafted in a pattern that’s integral to Jacob & Co.‘s visual identity.
What’s more, all the bridges visible on the movement and the entire rotor are set with 338 brilliant-cut, white diamonds. With a total of 1.32 ct, they give the Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites extra glow and exclusivity on a side that’s reserved for its owner, Cristiano Ronaldo, his friends and his family only.
Jacob & Co. Caviar Tourbillon Tsavorites Technical Specifications
Unique piece – Price: $770,000
Movement
- Manufacture, self-winding, caliber JCAA43
- Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds on the tourbillon
- Diameter: 34.6 mm
- Height: 6.81 mm
- Components: 216
- Power Reserve: 42 Hours
- Frequency: 28’800 vph (4 Hz)
- System: One-minute, flying tourbillon with openworked carriage
- Setting: Bridges and rotor set with 338 brilliant-cut diamonds (≈ 1.32 ct.)
Case
- Material: 18K white gold
- Diameter: 47 mm
- Height: 15.85 mm
- Caseback: Sapphire
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Water resistance: 30 m (3 atm)
- Setting:
- Case invisibly set with 224 baguette tsavorites (≈ 24.86 ct.);
- Crown invisibly set with 16 baguette tsavorites and 1 rose-cut tsavorite (≈ 1.20 ct.)
Dial & Hands
- Dial: Invisibly-set with 130 baguette tsavorites (≈ 10.75 ct.)
- Hands: Openworked, Jacob&Co-designed hands
Strap & Clasp
- Strap: Green, hand-stitched alligator leather
- Clasp: 18K white gold folding clasp
- Setting: Invisibly-set with 18 baguette tsavorites (≈ 1.77 ct.)
Total Carat Weight: ≈ 38.57 ct.
