Jacob & Co. has long occupied a space where haute horlogerie and cultural storytelling collide, and with The Godfather II, the Geneva-based maison pushes further into that territory. The new timepiece is the only watch in production today that allows the wearer to choose between two melodies, a complication with no precedent in contemporary watchmaking. Built around a new bespoke calibre, a redesigned case and a music box system engineered from scratch, it arrives as a technically and emotionally considered piece.

“The Godfather Part II is one of those rare sequels as strong as the original. We’ve put so much thought and creativity into this second opus that we believe it’s a worthy sequel. I wanted The Godfather II timepiece to offer a different take on the musical timepiece concept. We designed a refined, 1930s-inspired case and spent three years developing a movement that could play two melodies while remaining wearable.”

Jacob Arabo, Chairman and Founder of Jacob & Co

The two compositions at the heart of the watch, “The Godfather Love Theme” and “The Godfather’s Waltz”, were written by Nino Rota for Francis Ford Coppola’s original 1972 film. Both pieces are woven into the cultural memory of cinema, and their inclusion here is more than decorative. For Jacob Arabo, who arrived in the United States in 1979 at the age of fourteen, unable to speak the language, The Godfather was the first film he ever saw in a theatre. That personal connection has shaped this entire collection.

The Godfather II is produced as a limited edition of 74 pieces, a figure chosen deliberately to reference the film’s 1974 release. Retailing at $440,000, it sits at the apex of Jacob & Co.’s output and marks the brand’s most complex musical timepiece to date.

A movement three years in the making

The watch is powered by the JCAM62 calibre, developed specifically for this piece over a three-year period. Measuring 36 x 37 x 11 mm and comprising 510 components excluding pins, the movement operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour and is wound manually. At its core sits a one-minute flying tourbillon, housed within a case compact enough to wear comfortably on the wrist, a significant engineering consideration given the complexity of the music box system it also contains.

The melody selector, positioned at 10 o’clock, allows the wearer to switch between the two compositions before activating playback via a pusher at 8 o’clock. Each melody runs for between 15 and 20 seconds and can be repeated up to ten times on a single wind, an improvement on the original Opera Godfather. Crucially, both songs are encoded onto a single music box barrel, which allowed the development team to reduce the movement’s overall footprint without sacrificing either complication.

How the music box works

The music box at the centre of calibre JCAM62 is built around two mechanical components: a comb and a cylinder. The comb features 18 steel teeth, each of a different length, and it is the variation in tooth length that produces distinct musical notes as the cylinder rotates. The cylinder itself is studded with pins arranged to activate those teeth in a precise sequence, producing the melody.

Switching between the two compositions is achieved through a lateral shift of the cylinder of less than one millimetre, controlled by the melody selector. That fractional movement changes which pins engage the comb teeth, effectively reprogramming the music box without any additional mechanical components. The precision required to make that shift work reliably at scale is a considerable feat of miniaturised engineering.

Power and energy management

The Godfather II carries two separate power reserve indicators, a practical detail that reflects the dual energy demands of the movement. The main timekeeping reserve offers 72 hours of autonomy, displayed at 4 o’clock. A second, dedicated indicator at 8 o’clock tracks the remaining energy available to the music box, which supports between eight and ten melody activations on a full wind.

As the music box reserve depletes, visual cues alert the wearer before the system runs dry. This dual-display approach is a considered solution to a genuine complication: the energy demands of a music box and a flying tourbillon are entirely different in character, and managing them separately allows the wearer to monitor and maintain both without guesswork.

Case design and cinematic detail

The case departs from the circular Opera Godfather in favour of a rectangular, curved profile measuring 42 x 44 mm and standing 17 mm tall, crafted in 18K rose gold with Art Deco proportions drawn from the 1930s. The geometry is deliberately period-appropriate, referencing the era in which the Corleone family’s story is partly set. A domed sapphire crystal with double anti-reflective treatment sits above a black lacquered dial, on which a detailed portrait of Marlon Brando as Don Corleone is printed, alongside a three-dimensional applique rendering of the franchise’s signature puppet strings at 12 o’clock.

The cinematic references continue across every surface. The crown carries spiral grooves in the form of a gun barrel. Engraved bullet holes mark the caseback, and Don Corleone’s rose motif runs along the case flanks. The caseback itself features a piano-shaped sapphire aperture, through which the music box comb is visible, and is covered by a plate engraved with the actual score of The Godfather Love Theme.

The watch is worn on a black alligator leather strap secured by an 18K rose gold folding clasp. The Dauphine hands are curved, faceted, and finished in rose gold to match the case.

The story behind the collection

The Godfather II follows a body of work developed under a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures that began with the original Opera Godfather, a 49 mm timepiece featuring a triple-axis tourbillon and a movement that rotated when the music box was activated. From there, the collection expanded to include the Opera Godfather Baguette, the Opera Godfather Minute Repeater, the Opera Godfather 50th Anniversary edition, as well as complementary objects including a Godfather Pen and a Godfather Decanter.

Each piece in the collection carries two parallel narratives: the fictional world of the Corleone family, and the real journey of Jacob Arabo himself. The film’s opening line, “I believe in America”, held particular weight for Arabo when he first encountered it as a young immigrant with no English and no money for a cinema ticket. Two years passed before he could afford one. The Godfather II continues that story with greater technical sophistication and emotional depth, merging high watchmaking with cinematic narrative in a way that few objects in any field manage to achieve.

“The Godfather Part II is one of those rare sequels as strong as the original,” says Jacob Arabo, Chairman and Founder of Jacob & Co. “We’ve put so much thought and creativity into this second opus that we believe it’s a worthy sequel.”

“I wanted The Godfather II timepiece to offer a different take on the musical timepiece concept,” Arabo adds. “We designed a refined, 1930s-inspired case and spent three years developing a movement that could play two melodies while remaining wearable.”

Specifications at a glance

The Godfather II is powered by the manually wound JCAM62 calibre, measuring 36 x 37 x 11 mm and comprising 510 components. The 42 x 44 mm rose gold case stands 17 mm tall and is water-resistant to 30 metres. Functions include hours and minutes, a one-minute flying tourbillon, an integrated music box with two melodies, dedicated melody activator and selector pushers, and dual power reserve indicators for the movement and music box respectively.

The Godfather II is limited to 74 pieces worldwide and is priced at $440,000.