Jacob & Co. Scarface Opera
1980. Miami. Tony Montana: Introducing The New Opera Scarface From Jacob & Co.
The “King of Bling” does high horology his way with a musical tourbillon watch costing well into the kingpin range.
By Thomas Hendricks
Contributor
Brian de Palma’s seminal film, Scarface, is falsely considered a cult classic by many. Falsely, I say, because the term “cult classic” refers to a movie that was not well received at its opening. Scarface, on the other hand, has been a cultural force since its release in 1983, tantalizing audiences with Al Pacino’s all-in performance and the title character’s relentless pursuit of power.
The film follows Tony Montana's journey from Cuban refugee to the violent overlord of Miami's cocaine kingdom. As the original movie poster put it, “He loved the American Dream. With a vengeance.”
Now, Jacob & Co. is paying tribute to the film with a new piece developed in partnership with Universal Studios. The Opera Scarface is the latest edition to the brand’s Opera collection. The previous installment is the kindred Opera Godfather watch, honoring the famed Mafia trilogy.
Watch And Listen
Like its predecessor, the Opera Scarface uses technical achievement to match cinematic achievement. The most striking feature of the watch – and there are many – is the black-lacquered piano with a twin-barreled music box. When the pusher at ten o’clock is activated, the music box plays the film’s “Bolivia” theme song across 120 notes.
The watch features a triple-axis tourbillon whose axes turn at rates of 8, 24, and 72 seconds. And unlike other similar watches, the tourbillon is not the only element in motion. Here the dial rotates 120 degrees as the Scarface theme music plays.
We should note that the number of components in a watch is not the most definitive watermark for technicality, but we should also note that this piece has 658 of them.
In Pursuit Of Power
Thanks to the patented differential system, the timekeeping functions are not drained or compromised by the activation of the music box complication. Rather, the manually wound movement maintains a 42-hour power reserve independent of the music box function, which can play the 30-second theme song three times when fully wound. How do you wind it, you ask? Well, with an 18K rose gold violin, of course.
The watch sports other signature elements from the film, including the original poster motif with Al Pacino done up in rose gold. And at the center of the movement is a globe, also in 18K rose gold, featuring the words, "The World is Yours." Fans of Scarface will recognize this detail from the entrance hall of Tony Montana’s Miami mansion.
The American Dream Had A Price Tag
The reference number for this piece – which will never be used in conversation – is OP110.40.AK.AA.ABALA (need another baby name, Elon Musk?). The watch comes in either 18K rose gold or black DLC-coated titanium, and it's capped off by a highly domed sapphire crystal with a double anti-reflective treatment. Should you want to go swimming, off the coast of Miami, perhaps? The watch is water-resistant to 30 meters.
And talk about wrist presence. The watch comes in at similar proportions to many of Jacob’s other showstoppers - 49mm in diameter and a whopping 23mm thickness. What one loses in wearability, one more than makes up for in theatrics.
Both versions of the Opera Scarface are limited to 88 pieces, each with the black titanium model available for $330,000 and the full rose gold version coming in at $360,000.
(Images provided by Jacob & Co.)
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