Dwayne Johnson made his first-ever Met Gala appearance Monday night and brought a $3.3 million Jacob & Co. Billionaire III along for the ride. The 18-carat white gold rectangular skeleton watch, set with 714 white diamonds totaling 129.61 carats, is one of the most expensive timepieces ever spotted on the museum’s steps, according to GQ.
The watch is built to a scale that matches its price. At 54 millimeters in diameter, it dwarfs the 36-to-40mm range that typically defines men’s watches today, and even the movement itself measures 40.05mm wide. Of the 714 diamonds, 504 are set into the bracelet alone, with 77 in the case, 76 in the inner ring, and 57 across the movement bridges. Jacob & Co. produced only 18 pieces, with pricing listed as available on request. Jacob & Co. founder Jacob Arabo called it “the crown jewel of Jacob & Co., a true masterpiece, created for those who command presence at the highest level,” adding, “Seeing it on Dwayne tonight is a powerful expression of what we do best.”
Stylist Ilaria Urbinati, who has worked with Johnson for years and dressed him for the evening, told GQ the choice was deliberate. “It’s literally massive, and I feel like Dwayne is the only person who could pull off that size,” she said. Rather than scaling down to fit conventional red-carpet norms, Urbinati built the entire look to lean into Johnson’s stature. Watches, she has noted, are the cornerstone of his red-carpet style.
The wrist game was only part of the story. Johnson arrived in a bold Thom Browne ensemble that included a Polynesian skirt, styled for the Gala’s “Fashion is Art” theme. When asked about wearing a skirt, Johnson was direct: “I feel great.” He explained that Thom Browne’s team had reached out early asking whether he would be comfortable with the pleated silhouette. “In our culture, Polynesian culture, we rock lavalavas, we rock skirts,” he said. “The most masculine men, not that I’m one of them, but the most masculine men wear lavalavas and skirts.”
The Jacob & Co. Billionaire has quietly become a fixture at the Met Gala. In 2023, Usher wore a $5 million version loaded with 147.65 carats of rubies, and last year Maluma showed up with a Jacob & Co. piece dripping in emeralds. The line traces back to 2016, when Jacob & Co. first released the original Billionaire with 656 diamonds. Johnson’s Billionaire III appearance adds another chapter to that run, and it arrived on a wrist that, just the week before, was wearing a comparatively understated pink-dial Chopard Alpine Eagle sport watch.
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