For me the most interesting watch I saw from Jacob & Co. this year was this Ghost G5 timepiece. The Ghost is a brand new collection for 2011 designed by Jacques Fournier (Horology Design Ltd.) in cooperation with Yvan Arpa who is now a figure at Jacob & Co. The Ghost will comes in a few forms and is called the G5 and GT5 as well (Ghost 5 time zones). The Ghost has a new five-sided case that is strange at first but ends up looking rather nice on the wrist. I like this watch a lot more than I might expect if you just described it to me on paper.
This 47mm wide case shows up on two other new for 2011 Jacob & Co. timepieces called the Grand and the Global. All the new “G” watches have quartz movements. The Grand and the Global have analog faces while the Ghost has a slick new type of digital LCD screen that I haven’t experienced before.
Jacob & Co. offers the Ghost in a number of styles and decoration. For example, this model is in a PVD steel case with a baguette diamond decorated bezel. There are other diamond bezels available, as well as polished steel cases. Looks like gold might also be available as this prototype has some gold around the pushers. While it is almost heresy to think about a Jacob & Co. watch sans-diamonds, there is a carbon fiber bezel as well that looks pretty cool and sporty. Be sure to realize that the diamond bezel version models are super pricey.
The big size of the watch isn’t actually too bad. The 47mm wide case is rather comfortable and the unorthodox design draws attention in the right way. The brand really designed something that is both blingy and techie at the same time – which is something exceedingly hard to do much of the time.
OK, so what is the deal with the movement? It has six screens, but the center one is just the Jacob & Co logo. Five of those screens are multi-functional screens that can show a range of information. That means you can see the time, calendar, chronograph, and other functions. I am not sure everything it does and to be honest you need to consult with the manual to figure it all out. To save battery life the screens are blank unless activated – due to the intense backlighting. The trade off is a range of color options. According to Jacob & Co. the screens are able to show 32 different colors. Not just that, but you can have the watch just keep changing colors – even while the screens are turned on. It is really rather quite disco if I may say.
The Ghost is fun, that pretty much sums it up. People are gonna complain about the strange shape and the screens that go from pink to purple to green to red. Jacob’s Jacob probably just sits back and smiles. He thrives off the high-end, high-risk, and highly original. The Ghost is really a timepiece that brand can call their own – and I swear I do want to wear one.
