By now there are so many Jacob & Co. Astronomias that it’s unclear whether more of them will fit into the universe to which they pay tribute. There’s the Astronomia Sky, the Astronomia Art, the Astronomia Tourbillon, the Astronomia Casino, the Astronomia Tourbillon Casino Baguette … You get the idea. These are large watches with a lot of opulence and technology fighting for space under their high-domed crystals. It’s the rare collector who appreciates things like a flying tourbillon paired with a 288-facet orange citrine, and it’s the even rarer one who can also afford it.
To this large family, in time for Geneva Watch Days, comes the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Solar Bitcoin, upon which the heavenly bodies of our solar system share space with a recent addition to life on earth: an extra-large rotating bitcoin symbol.
The watch has a base plate shaped like a microchip, because Bitcoin’s mom and dad are both computers, and its movement is surrounded by an engraving reading “peer to peer” and “blockchain” and “decentralized digital currency,” which are the “Drive Carefully, Me” of the cryptocurrency generation.
“This is the dawning of the age of Bitcoin” the announcement for this watch asserts. To my eyes, we seem to be witnessing the sunset rather than the dawning – though, to be fair, crypto must’ve felt like the next big thing when Jacob & Co. thought up this concept.
You’d have to have a set of ₿rass ₿alls to wear this watch. For those who like bling and horological complications, there is no doubt that the Astronomia is a grail (or beyond the grail) piece, but the Jacob & Co. Astronomia Solar Bitcoin seems about six months too late. Then again, there are only 25 of them, so the question is: Are there 25 serious hodlers out there with portfolios diversified enough to afford one? Probably so. And there is a zero percent chance that anyone who buys this watch is not thinking obsessively about it at Burning Man right now under the influence of some drug we have all yet to hear of.