In addition, an image of Don Corleone is laser-etched at 11 o’clock on the piece.
When Jacob Arabo came from Uzbekistan to America, he saw the award-winning 1972 classic The Godfather, which took two Oscars and five Golden Globes.
Arabo says that when he first arrived in the United States in 1979, he was 14 years old, didn’t speak Uzbek, and his family had nothing. Consequently, we worked very hard to earn the time and money for movies. The Godfather was being released again. It was my first experience seeing the movie in a theater. It took me two years to earn enough money.
Jacob & Co. has just introduced a third Godfather watch fifty years later, just as there are now three Godfather movies in the archives. The music wheel plays the iconic mob story theme music on demand. Two rotating music-box barrels have 13 quotes from the movie etched on them. It comes loaded with references to the classic mob story.
There are thirteen stills from the movie accompanying the quote list, which have been etched onto the case side according to their appearance in the film. Marlon Brando’s image as Don Corleone is on a miniature grand piano between 10 o’clock and 11 o’clock, and the puppeteer’s strings from Mario Puzo’s book cover and movie poster are re-created. There’s a red rose sculptured into the center of the dial to represent the one Don Corleone wore on his daughter’s wedding lapel. The movie references are plenty, and they’re not subtle either.
With a $500,000 watch, Jacob & Co. celebrates ‘The Godfather’s’ 50th anniversary
It’s got a serious movement, the Caliber JCFM04, which has 634 parts and a triple-axis flying tourbillon. Beyond its hat tips to the legendary film, the watch looks great. The etching of the film stills was the biggest challenge, says Benjamin Arabov, son of Arabo, CEO of Jacob & Co. They spell their names differently.
“In order to outdo all previous iterations of Francis Ford Coppola’s cult classic,” he says, “we wanted to make it cinematic, graphic, and musically perfect. We started talking about ways to mark the 50th anniversary of The Godfather when we got the rights to the movie from Paramount Pictures in June 2021. The movie reel scenes were one thing we wanted to recreate, so we decided to do it on the case side.”
As a result of Jacob & Co’s collaboration with DM Surfaces, 256 shades of gray and black are rendered in an unparalleled level of realism and vividness.
In order to achieve a cinematic effect that triggers emotion, we went through countless prototypes.
This weekend, the brand unveiled the watch to the press and VIP clients in Sicily. A tour to celebrate Jacob & Co.’s 25th anniversary involved retracing Coppola and his film crew’s steps in the area surrounding Taormina, visiting the locations where shooting took place. Rich Report was among the guests on the tour, which retraced Coppola and his crew’s steps. Michael Corleone married Appolonia there, he met Appolonia’s father at the Vitello bar, and he lived in the mansion. There was an air of authenticity added by Gianni Russo’s portrayal of Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Don Corleone’s daughter, Connie, in the movie. His reminiscences about the film set, why Marlon Brando nearly got him fired, and how he landed a role in the film despite not being an actor but being “connected” were among the highlights of the launch event.
It was Russo who explained to the audience how he obtained the role in Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob. He had previously worked for real-life mafia crime boss Joe Colombo, who had formed The Italian-American Civil Rights League, to try to stop the film from being made at the time. Because they believed Italian-Americans would be unfairly depicted in the film, Colombo requested that the terms “Mafia” and “Cosa Nostra” be avoided. It was also agreed upon by the producers that mobsters, including Gianni Russo, would serve as extras and advisers. The decision was not well received by the star, Marlon Brando.
During a cocktail hour before a seated dinner in Sicily, Russo told Rich Report, “I saw Brando roll his eyes, and he called Coppola over and said, “This is an important character; he marries my daughter, undermines the family, yet he is not an actor… you’ve got to rethink this.” He is trying to fire me. It is impossible for me to return to my neighborhood. After putting my arm around him, I walked him to the back of the room, where I said, “I respect your work, but I will suck on your heart, and you will bleed out here today if you don’t fix this.” After stepping back, he commented, “That was excellent.” As a result, he continued to play his role.
Jacob & Co.’s Opera Godfather 50th Anniversary watch comes in 18-karat white gold and is only available to 50 real-life maestros. At 49 mm x 21 mm thick and for $500,000, it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted. The watch comes with a fountain pen themed after the Godfather and a whiskey decanter for those who want to show their friends “who’s boss.”
