Jacob & Co. Twin Turbo Furious Bugatti Sapphire Crystal

The Twin Turbo Furious Sapphire Crystal timepiece features both a fully transparent sapphire crystal case and a decimal minute repeater, a first in the world of haute horlogerie. The case took approximately 15 months to design and produce, combining the latest in high-tech design and manufacturing with traditional hand polishing.

The case provides a full view of the complex machinery of the Twin Turbo Furious, powered by the manual winding JCFM05 movement with a 50-hour power reserve. This includes the groundbreaking group of exclusive complications, such as the decimal minute-repeater, twin high-speed tourbillons, mono-pusher chronograph, and a pit-board style reference indicator.

The Twin Turbo Furious combines the exhilarating energy experienced in the world’s fastest automobiles with the unparalleled refinement and mechanical complexity only present in the universe of haute horlogerie. Powering the Twin Turbo Furious’ main time display and monopusher chronograph functionalities are its twin triple-axis tourbillons, spinning in a succession of lightning fast, calculated movements, the Twin Turbo Furious can depend on two regulating organs. Each of these triple-axis tourbillons are composed of a total of 104 components – and yet weigh only 1.15 grams.

Part of the Twin Turbo’s 832-component JCFM05 Manufacture Jacob & Co caliber is a decimal minute repeater – the most exotic and rare among chiming complications. Pull the sapphire crystal level set into the left-hand side of the sapphire crystal case to hear the crystal clear sound of its cathedral gongs.

The Twin Turbo Furious Sapphire Crystal is yet another groundbreaking Jacob & Co creation, one that is like no other to have ever existed in fine watchmaking before.

The Triple-Axis tourbillon is the most complicated, technically most challenging and visually most encapsulating among all tourbillons. The Twin Turbo Furious brings this 220-year-old invention into the future of fine watchmaking.

Through cutting-edge engineering design and state-of-the-art manufacturing and hand-assembly techniques, the Twin Turbo Furious’ twin triple-axis tourbillons have become the very ultimate solution in tourbillon-enhanced chronometric performance. Rotating and lightning fast speeds of 24, 8, and 72 seconds along the three axes of rotation, the engineering refinement of this configuration is only superseded by its visual impact: seeing purely mechanical assemblies of such refinement in such high-speed, yet accurate motion is the holy grail of ultra-fine watch connoisseur experiences.

Minute repeaters are the most prized complications by collectors and they are among the most difficult complications for watchmakers to conceive. Nevertheless, Jacob & Co. sought to push the boundaries of what was considered technically feasible when bringing the Twin Turbo Furious to life. Most minute repeaters conform to the hours, quarter hours and minutes standard, but the Twin Turbo Furious chimes on demand ten-minute intervals after the hours and before the minutes, a decimal repeater that is very rare in high watchmaking.

Another way the Twin Turbo Furious stands out is its Monopusher Chronograph. The horizontal clutch system is operated by a column wheel linked to the chronograph’s pusher that is integrated into the crown/crank system on the right side of the case. Unlike normal chronographs, which have two pushers, the Twin Turbo Furious’s monopusher chronograph uses only one pusher, which starts, stops and resets the chronograph.

Bringing the hypercar-inspired Twin Turbo even closer to the world of the fastest automobiles is its built-in mechanical Pit Board, an easy way to compare two elapsed times. Inspired by the old-time pit boards in auto racing, you use the crank (pulled out to the first position and unfolded) to move the colored, rotating disk and central digital display to set the reference time. Then, when you operate the monopusher chronograph normally, you can easily see the difference between the current time and the reference time you set. Seconds times greater than the reference time are in the red (+) portion of the pit board, while seconds times lower than the reference time are in the yellow and green (-) portion. Unlike today’s pit boards, which are electronic, this is all done mechanically.

When it comes to contemporary high-tech watchmaking, the creation of a sapphire crystal case is one of the pinnacles of achievement. The unique shape of the Twin Turbo Furious Bugatti sapphire crystal case made this an even more challenging project. Developing the design took nearly nine months. Producing the case by first growing the sapphire crystal from aluminum oxide, then shaping the case through a combination of state-of-the-art numeric machinery and detailed hand polishing took another six months for each case.

The obstacles were plenty. Normally the five-sided 57mm by 52mm case is made of 88 components. This was reduced to just a handful of parts, including the main case, the front and back sapphire crystal covers and the slide at 8 o’clock that activates the decimal minute repeater. The only part of the watch that isn’t made of sapphire crystal is the 18k white gold crank at 3 o’clock that winds and set the many complications.

The case has several geometric planes and angles that made both the machining of the case and particularly the hand polishing quite difficult. The watch’s unique twin-bezel design provided additional challenges. Hand polishing is the most important part of the process because it gives the sapphire crystal its transparency. It was also the most difficult to achieve. Every technique that is used in hand polishing crystal was incorporated throughout the different parts of the case. What was just as difficult as the main case to complete was the back cover, again because of the varying angles and planes.

Several compromises in the design of the watch were made to allow for the gongs and hammers of the decimal minute repeater. This is the first watch to ever incorporate a minute repeater inside a sapphire crystal case. The complexity of placing this complication inside the watch and ensuring the high-quality of the sound made this another unique achievement.

For optimum legibility of the chronograph’s indications, the Twin Turbo Furious Sapphire Crystal introduced a smoked dark grey sapphire crystal dial, that partially reveals the components underneath it while allowing for enhanced legibility. Indices are finished in Super-LumiNova. The hours and minutes are indicated by specially skeletonized and bi-colored main hands, driven by exquisitely finished gears, connecting them to the twin triple-axis tourbillons.

The periphery of the dial is crafted from a rare and exotic material called Neoralithe in red. It provides a colorful contrast to the fully transparent sapphire crystal case.