The FIFA World Cup 2022 is well underway, with the final coming up this Sunday. And although Portugal was unexpectedly eliminated by Morocco, stopping Cristiano Ronaldo’s chances of ever winning a world championship with the national team, the soccer star who goes by the moniker CR7 has left his mark on the sport. With records for the most appearances (183) and most goals in the Champions League (140), and an additional 196 matches for Portugal with 118 goals, he is a living legend if there ever was one. Just before the World Cup in Qatar, though, there was a bit of controversy surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo, in part thanks to the latest special-edition watch created with Jacob & Co., a brand he’s been close to for 20 years now. Let’s find out more!
I’m not going to elaborate on all the controversy surrounding this new watch, but the image of Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winning goal for Real Madrid against Manchester United, while employed by the latter, didn’t go down too well with the British Premier League Club. Shortly afterwards, but not due to the actual watch’s release, news broke of the termination of his contract with Manchester United.
Jacob & Co. has released two new watches in collaboration with Ronaldo, based on the revamped Epic X collection. The first is the Jacob & Co. x CR7 Epic X “Flight of CR7”, and the second is the “Heart of CR7”. Both come in a 44mm wide case in either stainless steel or 18k rose gold, with stout lugs that visually connect to the vertical bridge over the movement. Each can be had with a clean bezel or a diamond-set one, and both are finished with a tinted sapphire crystal around the back.
Time is indicated by two large openworked central hands accompanied by a sloping minute ring on the outer perimeter. The stainless steel version is the “Heart of CR7”, which shows green details throughout, while the “Flight of CR7” is finished in red. The vertical bridge over the movement is decorated with an image of the man himself, either celebrating a goal (Heart of CR7) or performing the aforementioned header (Flight of CR7), along with “CR7” and his signature. The top half is enhanced with a soccer ball over the barrel, and the lower half with an exposed escapement.
This escapement regulates the JCAM45 manual-winding movement, which is constructed using 158 components and runs at a rate of 28,800vph. This provides a total running time of 48 hours when fully wound and indicates hours and minutes only. The back is partially visible through the tinted crystal, which also shows Ronaldo’s signature celebration after scoring a goal.