Jacob & Co doubles revenue in two years as it pursues global expansion (2024)

In 2022, Jacob&Coopened its doors through mono brand stores, boutiques and shop-in-shops in Singapore, London (with two locations), Tokyo, Mumbai, New Delhi, The Caribbean, to name a few.

2023, including Dubai and Istanbul this January, will see no fewer than another 13 Jacob & Co. boutiques and shop-in-shops opening their doors in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Austria, Australia, Kuwait, Albania, Bahrain, Andorra, Vietnam and Egypt. This brings the total number of Jacob & Co. boutiques and Shop-in-Shops to 94 in 34 countries worldwide, including the historic flagship store in New York.

A sparkling footprint with the best partners, in key cities around the globe

In September of 2022, Jacob & Co started to deliver its first timepieces to Ethos, India’s pre-eminent luxury retailer with the largest portfolio of luxury and premium watches. Ethos is now Jacob & Co’s established representative with 11 locations in a dynamic economy whose luxury segment is projected to grow by a factor of 3.5 by 20301, and is preparing the opening a first Jacob & Co boutique in Mumbai in March 2023.

In Asia, Jacob & Co recently opened a dedicated presence in Singapore’s independent watchmaking temple, Sincere Haute Horlogerie. The relationship with Sincere, the region’s premier luxury watch specialist based in Singapore, is going from strong to stronger.

In October 2022, Jacob & Co opened its boutique in Tokyo, Japan. Finally, the brand’s Dubai boutique located in the Dubai Mall re-opened this week, after a thorough months-long renovation. In April 2023, Jacob & Co is looking forward to celebrating the opening of another boutique as part of a new partnership with well-known and highly experienced in luxury retail Salujain (Salujain Trading Co. Ltl) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The list of these prestigious partners would not be complete without naming, amongst others, Bucherer and Watches of Switzerland whose Jacob & Co presence in Las Vegas has worked so well that the expansion continued in London in July 2022.

Strong growth on solid foundations

Jacob & Co, the creator of exceptional high jewelry and high watchmaking, is celebrating several new milestones in the firm’s development. A slew of store openings is taking the brand founded by Jacob Arabo and headed by CEO Benjamin Arabov to a new level of international presence. Supporting Jacob & Co’s growth is the global acclaim garnered by the innovative creations the brand is continually introducing.

Benjamin Arabov says “For the third year in a row, we are outperforming both the market and our own growth projections. Our uniquely agile manufacturing structure allows us to keep up with demand and the intense roll-out of new creations, but only up to a point.”

The bar for 2023 is set high after registering record growth in 2022. Jacob & Co reports record revenue growth of +132% from 2020 to 2022. The revenues for this period were driven by strong demand for luxury watches (106% for the same period). The US, Dubai and Mexico remain strong markets for Jacob & Co and the brand is poised to continue expanding into key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Kuwait.

The US remains a strong anchor market. The boutique that opened in 2021 at Miami’s exclusive Bal Harbour Shops continues to perform very well. 2022 marked the best year ever for sales at the New York boutique since the business started 40 years ago, i.e. 20 years ago since the boutique on 57th street.

The partnership with Watches in Switzerland with regard to US locations has been expanded in late 2022 with a presence in Minnesota and Atlanta. “We see attractive opportunities in the US as we further develop our lower-end timepieces, with substantial growth happening in 2024 and 2025,” comments Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co.

More than 200 Bugatti Chiron timepieces sold

Product stories – legends in the making: As at Q4 2022, the number of Bugatti Chiron timepieces sold (base price US$ 280,000 – a special collaboration between Bugatti and Jacob & Co) surpassed the 200-mark. The Opera Godfather (base price US$ 350,000), a timepiece inspired by and designed as a personal tribute to The Godfather movie, has sold 110 times.

One-off creations and bespoke versions of the Bugatti Chiron collection, born from the partnership between Bugatti Automobiles and Jacob & Co, venture into 7-figure territory. Jacob & Co’s Opera Godfather collection has been consistently exceeding expectations, both in terms of the aura it has acquired and the sales it has generated.

The world’s highest residential tower

2022 also marks Jacob & Co’s entry in luxury real estate with the construction and commercialization of the world’s highest residential tower (a ‘hyper tower’ 500+ meters/1640 ft high) – the Burj Binghatti Jacob & Co Residences in Dubai’s Business Bay – in partnership with leading Emirati property developer Binghatti.

Teaming up with Cristiano Ronaldo and his brand CR7

Perfectly timed to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: On November 22nd, Jacob & Co unveiled the first collection dedicated to and created together with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Epic X Flight of CR7 and the Epic X Hope of CR7 are the two inaugural timepieces of the limited editions designed in concert with Cristiano Ronaldo for his CR7 brand. A longstanding friend of the brand and of Mr. Arabo, Cristiano Ronaldo is the first football (aka soccer) player to ever have a timepiece collection designed to celebrate his achievements.

Always a beat ahead where true artists set the beat

Another very special highlight of 2022 was a testament to the special relationship with artist Pharrell Williams. The Son of a Pharaoh auction, held by Pharrell Williams’ Joopiter digital auction house and curated by the artist himself, featured 52 luxury items that have gained icon status, including the original NERD pendant, the Asscher-Cut Tennis Platinum necklace and the 5 Time Zone Royal full diamond-set watch.

These and the other pieces co-created by Jacob & Co and Pharrell Williams are testaments a creative partnership that is possibly unique in the recent history of music and style. The Son of a Pharaoh auction closed on 1 November 2022 with a total of US$ 5.25 million.

New product dynamic

Over the past two years Jacob & Co has seen an increase both in demand and in sales for less expensive models and daily wear watches. Sales of the Epic X Chrono & Epic X models, for instance, over the past couple of years are up by a factor of 5 to 10 . “As another example, sales of the Palatial collection, which retails for $7,000, totaled US$ 200,000 in 2020. At the end of 2022, we recorded total sales of US$ 2,000,000 for this model for the year and we are currently sold out,” comments Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co.

In 2023, Jacob & Co looks to expand its lower end collections, addressing the feedback from clients and retail partners regarding watch size. “One of the most significant initiatives since I started 2 years ago has been to create watches that are 44MM or less. In 2023 year, we will be coming out with several models that reflect this new thrust. Additionally, of course, to stay true to our DNA, we are developing revolutionary, never-seen-before complications to continue pushing innovation,” adds Benjamin Arabov, CEO of Jacob & Co.  

Digital & social media leadership

When Benjamin Arabov was named CEO in October 2020, his first decision was to implement a new social media and overall digital strategy, which soon became a pillar of the company’s worldwide expansion, brand equity and revenue growth. On September 17th, 2022, Jacob & Co’s Instagram account reached 3 million followers.

By December 5th, it had reached 3.3 million. This acceleration places Jacob & Co well in the top 10 of watchmaking and jewelry brand accounts on Instagram. Over the past two years, no less than 12 videos published on the platform have garnered more than 3 million views, a rare achievement even among the largest and most established brands in the sector.

The first watch brand to create an NFT watch

After creating the first ever digital native timepiece NFT in 2021, Jacob & Co in 2022 became the first watch brand to present both a physical timepiece and its digital native NFT at the GPHG (Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2022) – the watch industry’s beacon event held annually in Geneva. Shortlisted for the Jewelry Award, Jacob & Co.’s Astronomia Metaverso NFT Venus marked a paradigm shift in the watchmaking universe. Born both as an NFT-secured, digital timepiece and as a physical high jewelry watch, it intrinsically belongs in two worlds.

Jacob & Co. in space – for a down-to earth cause

In another beyond-stratospheric feat in 2022, Jacob & Co. partnered with Bucherer and Sotheby’s to send into space a one-off Jacob & Co Astronomia Tourbillon Bucherer Blue into space.

On the wrist of astronaut Eytan Stibbe, Jacob & Co’s triple axis tourbillon was the first such watch to make it into space, let alone travel more than 7 million miles at 17,500 miles per hour. Keeping perfect time, it came back to Earth after 273 orbits, in time to be auctioned by Sotheby’s New York for the benefit of the Davidson Institute of Science Education in July 2022.

A Sicilian Story

The world-class event hosted by Jacob & Co in October in Sicily for the launch of the Opera Godfather 50th Anniversary Limited Edition timepiece still resonates with the community. Walking in the footsteps of The Godfather film crew, on location, the event brought together 130 collectors and journalists from all over the world. It culminated with a seated dinner in the courtyard of Castello dei Schiavi, where the most famous Sicilian scenes from The Godfather were shot.

Summary

In the space of just 36 years, Jacob & Co (founded in 1986 by Jacob Arabo, who is currently chairman; and helmed for the past two years by his son Benjamin Arabov as CEO) has become a predominant actor of the superluxury industry with a balanced presence as much in terms of notoriety as in sales in all parts of the world.

Leading high watchmaking and high jewelry house Jacob & Co keeps accelerating on all fronts. With store openings in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Japan, India and the reopening of its Dubai boutique, the creator of the Bugatti Chiron and Astronomia collections is expanding its worldwide presence.

With the launch of the Burj Binghatti Jacob & Co Residences in Dubai, the brand is entering another dimension in the luxury lifestyle domain. In shooting past the 3 million follower mark on Instagram, NYC-based, family-owned Jacob & Co confirms its leadership in digital communication and millennial reach. Jacob & Co’s strategy of total creative independence and digital focus is bearing fruits exceeding all expectations.

Astronomia, Opera Godfather, Twin Turbo, Bugatti Chiron, Jean Bugatti, Epic, Billionaire, The Mystery… – Jacob & Co is the creative driving force behind a completely new, different, never-before-seen watchmaking that can be qualified as revolutionary – with a disruptive design that achieves a phenomenal resonance worldwide. Jacob & Co has created a new segment in horology, attracting a completely new clientele in the process. It began 20 years ago, with the first Jacob & Co timepiece presented in 2002.

2023 – excitement on the product front

The next twenty years, starting with 2023, promise to be just as exciting. Jacob & Co will be presenting 5 remarkable new timepieces, especially in terms of their complications with a World-First at the Geneva Watch Week in March 2023 in Geneva. Jacob & Co will be exhibiting these creations at the Four Seasons Hotel Les Bergues from 27 March to 2 April 2023.

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