Maluma sure knows how to make an entrance. Dressed in a custom, effervescent zoot suit from designer Willy Chavarria, the Colombian singer rocked up to the Met Gala with a Jacob & Co. Billionaire III Emeralds on his wrist. Similar to the watch worn by Usher at last year’s ceremony, it features hundreds upon hundreds of precious stones and a skeletonized, hand-wound tourbillon movement. In addition to its complex caliber, whose bridges are also set with emeralds, it also boasts an integrated, gem-set bracelet. Guinness World Records needs to establish a category for the largest collection of emeralds to adequately honor this timepiece.
Michael Buckner/Getty Images
Michael Buckner/Getty Images
We get used to seeing mind-blowing, high-end fare at places like Watches and Wonders and courtside, but the sheer number of emeralds dripping off this piece—714 natural, no-heat stones weighing nearly 148 carats—is difficult to comprehend. Of course, it’s par for the course for jeweler Jacob Arabo (aka “Jacob the Jeweler”), whose wares have been gracing the wrists of A-list rappers, singers, and actors for decades. Arabo’s love of precious stones (particularly diamonds) resulted in the first Billionaire, a pièce unique that debuted in 2016. Since then, Billionaire has spawned a larger collection available in diamond-, ruby-, and emerald-set iterations.
Jacob & Co. didn’t use just any emeralds on Maluma’s watch, either. They are sourced directly from the city Muzo in the singer’s native Colombia. Muzo just so happens to be known as the world capital of emerald mines, which made them a perfect match for Maluma’s watch.
Everything about this watch is made to highlight the precious stones that adorn its every crevice. That being said, however, it still boasts an impressive degree horological savoir faire: The hand-wound JCAM39 movement is fitted with thin, white gold bridges and set with 57 emeralds—using a harder, more traditional material would’ve made gem-setting impossible. These bridges suspend a one-minute tourbillon and its barrel in vertical alignment in the center of the transparent dial, giving the impression that the movement componentry is floating in space. With 72 hours of power reserve and 167 components, the JCAM39 has more than enough Swiss clout to impress even the most jaded of watch nerds.
Beyond the movement, the Billionaire III Emeralds’ 54mm x 40mm rectangular case is fashioned from white gold and set with 76 emerald-cut emeralds and one rose-cut ruby. An inner bezel is set with another 76 stones, while the integrated bracelet boasts no fewer than 504 emerald-cut emeralds. All together, the natural stones weigh in at nearly 148 carats. A pièce unique with a $5M price tag, it’s the type of watch tailor-made for garnering attention at an occasion as special and prestigious as the Met Gala. (Granted, you’d probably elicit our attention if you wore this watch anywherebut why waste it on a trip to the supermarket?)
Jacob & Co. has always been a brand of kings. Maluma, one of the world’s best-selling Latin artists, fits the bill perfectly.
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Lewis Hamilton’s Richard Mille RM 74-02
Hamilton’s Richard Mille 74-02 is an automatically-wound, ultra-skeletonized tourbillon with a 18K 5N red gold baseplate and 18K 3N yellow gold bridges. The unique look of Hamilton’s watch is largely thanks to painstaking creation of the case. Those stripes result from stacks and stacks of ultra-thin quartz brought together through heat and pressurization. The striations develop naturally through the process. Not happy with that already complicated development, Richard Mille then adds in 22-carat pink gold leaves. Is this watch the next beloved RM piece? Pharrell wore the same model to Monday’s Met Gala.
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Jalen Hurts’s Breitling Super Chronomat B01 44
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts rocked a solid-gold Breitling Super Chronomat B01 44 to the Time 100 event in New York last weekend. A far cry from the stainless steel fare that the brand famously made for pilots during the early-to-mid-20th century, this impressive hunk of precious metal nevertheless features the complication that made Breitling a household name: the humble chronograph. Measuring 44 mm in 18K red gold, it’s got a matching bracelet, a chocolate brown dial with a triple-register layout, and a chronometer-certified, automatic movement. (It’s also got a rotating timing bezel and 200m of water resistance, so if you suddenly found yourself in need of a dive watch in a pinch, the Super Chronomat would be up for that job, too.)
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Yuki tsunoda’s day Heuer Formula 1
Yuki Tsunoda, a driver on Red Bull’s F1 team, wore one of the hottest watches of Watches and Wonders ‘25 at the Grand Prix in Miami this week. Given his occupation and the setting, he couldn’t have made a more fitting choice than the TAG Heuer Formula 1 in black with a matching strap. This version with red and white accents is a limited edition. The watch’s features include a rotating dive bezel and a 38-mm case with a black DLC coating. Powered by the brand’s Calibre TH50-00, it uses Solargraph technology to hold a charge for months. (40 hours of direct sunlight yields a 10-month power reserve.) Available for just $1,800, the Formula 1 is one of the best buys in big-brand watches.
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