It may cost upwards of $45,000 to climb Everest but to wear a piece of it on your wrist will set you back over €800,000 with the new Job & Co Astronomia Everest Watch...
There's no arguing that the Astronomia Tourbillon by Jacob & Co revolutionized watchmaking when it was introduced in 2014. But it's not exactly considered an outdoorsman's watch but that didn't stop renowned Swedish explorer and adventure activist Johan Ernst Nilson from taking an Astronomia Tourbillon with him on his recent expedition to the Himalayas.
"I wore the regular Astronomia Tourbillon on my last climb to the Himalayas, where I went up to 6,200 meters (almost 20,000 feet), in -30 C degree, extreme conditions," Nilson says. "I used the Astronomia on the climb in order to test it. You would think that such a complicated watch would be delicate and fragile, but it isn't, and it performed perfectly in all conditions. I used it climbing up ice walls, with my ice ax, banging it against rock and ice and it held up extremely well."
Nilson has climbed the Seven Summits , and he is in the Guinness Book of World Records for his Three Poles Challenge Expedition.
So in designing the new Astronomia Everest it seemed only fitting that Jacob & Co worked in collaboration with Nilson. Based on the Astronomia Sky, the Astronomia Tourbillon Three Poles/Everest features Jacob & Co.'s iconic double axis gravitational tourbillon on one of four satellites, the others holding a turning, one-carat 288-facet Jacob-cut diamond, the time display, and a spinning magnesium globe.
Powering this remarkable timepiece is the iconic Jacob & Co. double-axis tourbillon movement, featuring four satellite arms. The tourbillon is on one arm, turning on two axes, one in 60 seconds and the second in five minutes.
On the second satellite is the 288-facet Jacob-cut diamond, rotating on itself in 60 seconds. On the third satellite, directly across from the tourbillon, is the time display, while on the fourth satellite is the magnesium lacquered globe, which rotates on itself in 60 seconds.
Mounted in the center of the timepiece is a stunning piece of rock from Mt. Everest itself, which Nilson found with his own two hands.
To celebrate the earth and underscore its fragility, the Astronomia Everest features miniature, transparent buckets of actual water collected by Nilson at both the North and South Poles. You can actually see the water sloshing inside the buckets, clearly indicated "North Pole" and "South Pole," when you move your watch.
To facilitate legibility at night, this is the very first Astronomia to feature Super-LumiNova on the hands, the constellations on the base dial, the turning globe, the Jacob & Co. logo on the side of the base dial, and even on the strap. So, whether you are at Mt. Everest base camp or coming home from an elegant soirée, you can now read your timepiece at night.
The Astronomia Everest is fitted with a special rubber strap that has luminous material within, so it too glows in the dark.
The box for this special timepiece matches its complexity, as it is shaped like Mount Everest itself, complete with a line indicating the ascent. Open the box and the Astronomia Everest appears to be imbedded in ice, and a speaker plays the sound of the Everest wind, recorded live on the mountain.
The new Jacob & Co Everest timepiece is priced from $884,800 of which 10% of the price will be donated to charity to help make a difference in global warming plus an expedition with Nilson, by helicopter, to the place on Mount Everest where the rock was found.
