Jay-Z is very wealthy, and this publicly private matter has actually been a well-known rumor for 3 years. In fact, in 2019, he was already recognized by Forbes as a “billionaire”, surpassing competitors such as Dr. Dre, Diddy, Kanye West, and many others. In addition to his various industries, Jay-Z’s taste is definitely an important asset in establishing his extraordinary personal value. When it comes to his most amazing taste, his watch collection must be mentioned, and today ZTYLEZ MAN will introduce 5 Jay-Z watches to everyone.
Private collections that can shock everyone. I guarantee that these 5 styles are definitely not something you can buy with money or status.
Jacob & Co.: Five Time Zone
The first one, it must be this one. In the mid-1980s, after Jay-Z briefly lived in London and returned to New York to start his career, his close friend, The Notorious BIG, was tragically shot, causing him to fall into depression. However, this led Jay-Z to create the classic album “In My Lifetime Vol.1,” propelling him to become one of the hottest rappers in New York in the mid-1990s. Coincidentally, another celebrity from New York was also rising to fame at the same time, eventually becoming a close friend and important partner of Jay-Z and his independent record label Roc-A-Fella Records. This person is none other than Jacob Arabo, the founder of the independent jewelry and watch manufacturer Jacob & Co. From that moment on, Jacob Arabo became an indispensable key to Roc-A-Fella’s establishment in the music industry. In the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Jay-Z could often be seen wearing the Five Time Zone watch designed by Jacob & Co. Later on, as the brand began supplying watches and other diamond-studded accessories for him, Jacob Arabo even created the iconic Roc-A-Fella chain for him and collaborated on designing a new luxurious version of the Five Time Zone watch with diamonds, solidifying the rapper’s image of ultimate luxury.
Audemars Piguet: Royal Oak Offshore Jay-Z 10th Anniversary Collection
Did you know? In addition to Jacob & Co., Jay-Z is the first singer to collaborate with Audemars Piguet (referred to as AP). Therefore, what we are about to introduce next is another “first”.
In 2005, to celebrate Jay-Z’s 10th anniversary in the music industry, AP CEO François-Henry Bennahmias approached Jay-Z to collaborate on designing a limited edition Royal-Oak Offshore series watch. This limited edition Royal-Oak Offshore watch, created by Jay-Z and AP over two years, has a diameter of 44mm and only 100 pieces were released at the time – 50 steel, 30 18k rose gold, and 20 platinum styles. The dial features a diamond-set numeral marking the 10th hour, while the case back bears Jay-Z’s signature. Each watch comes with a special collector’s box including a 40GB iPod Classic preloaded with Jay-Z’s albums, with Jay-Z’s signature and a quote engraved on the iPod: “I’m so far ahead of my time, I’m ‘bout to start another life. Look behind you, I’b ‘bout to pass you twice.” The steel version retailed for $23,500 USD, while the super limited platinum version was priced at $69,500 USD. In a 2016 auction at Christie’s, a steel version from this series sold for $30,000 USD, but recently a platinum version has been discovered and is currently listed on the market for as much as $88,400 USD.
Patek Philippe: Grandmaster Chime 6300G
Typical Patek Philippe watches, if they are complications, are priced between $300,000 and $450,000. Jay-Z’s watch, on the other hand, is priced at $2,250,000. And that price is just the retail price in 2019.
The watch named Grandmaster Chime 6300G, Jay-Z has worn it on two of the most famous occasions, one being in the music video “Sorry Not Sorry” by his friend, the famous musician DJ Kahled, and the other at the 50th birthday party of another friend, the legendary rapper Diddy. But how amazing is this watch that it can command such an astonishing price tag?
It’s simple, this is the most complicated watch ever made by Patek Philippe. The 6300G has up to 20 complex functions, including grand and small self-chiming, minute repeater, perpetual calendar, alarm, date repeater function that strikes the time musically with the configuration of three hammers and three gongs, and a very rare four-digit year display; the movement consists of 1366 parts, including 6 of the latest patented processes. Additionally, the case is entirely made of platinum, with a double-sided design – one side features a dual time zone dial, Arabic numeral hour markers, while the other side features a design with four sub-dials. There are actually two versions of the 6300G, Jay-Z owns the black-faced version released in 2016, while the blue-faced version was released in 2019. Although Jay-Z owns the “regular version,” currently, the black-faced model is considered rarer in the market.
When Patek Philippe launched the 6300G, the production numbers of the watch were not clearly stated, but it is known that the production quantity is extremely limited. It is understood that the brand only made about 12 pieces at the time, and because the brand donated the globally unique one-off special stainless steel 6300A at the 8th Only Watch charity auction in 2019, the watch set a shocking record in the watch industry with a price of 31 million Swiss francs, causing the market price of the 6300G to soar instantly. In addition, the introduction of the “blue dial” in 2019 made the “black dial” owned by Jay-Z an instant rarity.
Richard Mille: The Blueprint
Richard Mille is definitely the most indispensable brand in Jay-Z’s collection.
Owning the most complicated watch from Patek Philippe, similarly, Jay-Z also owns the most complicated watch from Richard Mille. This watch, named The Blueprint, is indeed a blueprint design, inspired by Richard Mille naming it after Jay-Z’s sixth personal album “The Blueprint”, and this entirely sapphire-made RM 056 is a tourbillon watch specially crafted for him by the brand, making him the only person in the world to own it, making the RM 056 “one of a kind”.
According to reports, this watch is one of the most complex projects ever made by Richard Mille in history. It took several years of development and at least 3,000 hours to produce. The production of the sapphire case, front bezel, strap, and back bezel were all done by Richard Mille watchmakers, cut and milled from solid sapphire blocks. Combined with the exquisite and highly complex tourbillon structure, the watch is priced at $2,500,000.
Richard Mille: RM 56-01
With the most complex projects, there must be the most expensive collections.
After The Blueprint, Richard Mille created another unique gemstone tourbillon for Jay-Z – a tourbillon watch made with green sapphires – making it one of the most expensive watches ever made by Richard Mille.
The RM 56-01 tourbillon, the highlight of the entire manual winding tourbillon movement is the sapphire crystal glass mirror, allowing as much light as possible to penetrate the movement. The movement displays hours and minutes, with power reserve and torque located at 11 o’clock and 2 o’clock respectively, and the function selector indicator at 4 o’clock. As the second unique piece created by Richard Mille himself for Jay-Z, the price also surpasses the aforementioned RM056 made for Jay-Z for the first time, with RM 56-01 reportedly priced at $3,000,000 USD at the time.
資料及圖片來源：Web Photo
