Talking Jacob & Co. Watches with Santa Laura

“To me, that is watch collecting; watches that are engaging, that are fun. That you wear and that are conversation starters, not that you keep in a safe and every year you calculate the return on your investment. For me, it has always been about working hard, so that you can buy a watch for enjoyment! Do you know what I mean? So going back to Jacob & Co., these watches brought this emotion back to me, especially now that we are in a world surrounded by so many people buying Rolexes, Pateks or Audemars Piguets for investment. Jacob reignited my passion again for something new and different, fun and uplifting. Does it make financial sense to buy them? I don’t know. But that’s watch collecting, or at least that was what it was in its most pure form.”

I explained to Santa Laura that in a recent interview with François-Paul Journe, the independent watchmaker shared how he decides to allocate a watch to a collector. Because in today’s heady environment, the secondary profit on all his watches is the equivalent of a luxury car. Journe told me, “I look for the collector that would have been willing to lose 20 percent in the old days, rather than make money. Those are the type of collectors I will allocate my watches to.”

Said Santa Laura, “Precisely right, that was what we all believed in before, and if we didn’t have that mentality, watch collecting would not exist today. But today, what is happening is so many people are buying watches as investments. When you see your friend doing this, you want to do it as well. Because everyone wants to be successful and make money at the same time. But to me when it comes to watch collecting, that’s where the passion becomes more faded. So it is only natural for me that I look now for brands that are flying under the radar, and Jacob is exactly this. A brand that is making truly incredible things but flying a bit under the radar.”

When asked what appeals to him the most about any watch, Santa Laura was quick to reply, “It’s the emotion a watch gives me. I look at Jacob and I get the same feeling I get when I look at an Urwerk or a De Bethune. It’s a vision of watchmaking that is unique and totally different than the mainstream. I’m not saying that Rolexes are not nice or that Pateks are not nice, but this is different, more individual. I think one of the reasons that independent brands have gained so much momentum and visibility is because no one can buy a Rolex, a Patek, a Richard Mille. So the educated collector wants to look at what is really rare and unique, and he lands on independents.