The Business of Watches [029] Benjamin Arabov, CEO Of Jacob & Co.

A

Welcome to the Business of Watches, the Houdinke podcast, where horology meets high finance, and we go behind the scenes to talk to the executives making things tick this week. A brand we don't cover a lot at hodinkee. Jacob Co. Flamboyant, controversial and expensive, Jacob Co. Watches aren't for everyone, but they certainly are for some, as the jewelry brand reports that it's among the 30 largest Swiss brands by sales. The brand reported 180 million Swiss francs in sales in 2025, according to Morgan Stanley. That's a 14% jump in revenue and a 24% increase in volumes. While most of the industry is struggling to stay flat, Jacob and company is growing. We speak with CEO Benjamin Ereboff, the son of the brand's founder Jacob Ereboff, and get the lowdown on how Jacob Co. Operates. But first, some headlines from the watch world. Chopard plans to eliminate 28 jobs at its Fleurier operations in the Val de Travers, Swiss newspaper Le Temps reported. Chopard confirmed that it plans to cut the positions due to changes in the market for its products. It employs about 220 people at its operations there and told Le Temps in a statement, the watchmaking industry is undergoing a profound transformation accentuated by a particularly uncertain economic and geopolitical context. The management noted customer demand for the company is now evolving towards higher end watch creations produced in smaller volumes. Due to their high complexity. We are reorganizing and adapting our production facility in Fleurier to this new reality, chopard says. The planned job cuts come after a period of short time work, the Swiss government supported program that allows companies to furlough workers and avoid permanent job cuts for up to two years. For a number of Swiss watchmakers, the period of arte ash or short time work will soon end and more job cuts could be on the way. The Swiss watch industry employs about 65,000 people directly and represents Switzerland's third largest export sector behind machinery and pharmaceuticals. Switzerland exported about 26 billion francs worth of watches in 2025, while values are near record highs and represent more than half of the global watch industry. Swiss export volumes have been declining from about 30 million units in the early 2000s to about 15 million units annually in 2025. Speaking of Swiss watch exports, more Vol in the monthly stats. Exports fell 16% in April as shipments to the US skidded 56%. But that is after a 156% surge in the same month the year before when brands rushed to send watches to the biggest market to avoid Looming tariffs. Exports are now down about 3.9% year to date, but excluding the US they're up 1.7% so far. This suggesting a gradual recovery in some markets, including China. And that's your business headlines for this week. Now here's our conversation with Benjamin Erabaf, the CEO of Jacob Company.

B

We are in Geneva. It is the week of Watches and Wonders 2026 and I am am at the Four Seasons Hotel with Ben Eraboff, who is the Chief Executive officer of Jacob Company. Jacob Company isn't a brand that we always talk about on Hodinkee, but we're super happy to have you on the Business of Watches podcast. Welcome, Ben.

C

Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.

B

Excellent, excellent. So for those who don't know the story of the brand, tell us your connection to Jacob and co and how long you've been involved with the brand and how long you've been in the CEO role and how you got here.

C

Sure. So my connection with the brand is that I'm the son of the founder, Jacob.

B

Jacob the Jeweler.

C

Jacob the Jeweler.

B

Jacob Baroboff is your father?

C

Some call him now Jacob the Watches. I saw a recent article saying that. So that was cool to see.

B

That's cool. Does he embrace that change in his nickname?

C

He embraces it for sure. So my journey started in 2017 where Jacob asked me to support his marketing efforts. At the time I was running my own business. It was a digital marketing agency focused on helping educational businesses get more enrollments online. And I was in the digital marketing space since 2010. Digital marketing was my passion, it was my interest, it was my curiosity. I started a successful business in the space. And in 2017, as he was exploring entering into the digital side of marketing for his brand, he asked me to help him and work with the current team. So I helped him like in a consulting type of role while I was still running my own business. And in 2020, at late 2020, he asked me if I would join the company full time.

B

This is in the middle of COVID if I recall.

C

In the middle of COVID Yes. And it was an interesting time for me in my, in my personal life because I was running my business already for eight years and the business was set up in a way where it didn't need me on a day to day basis and I was kind of losing interest in the industry. So I saw this really great and exciting opportunity for me to come on board to partner with Jacob to help him grow the business and for the brand to achieve the potential that I always saw that it had. And one of the first things that I did when I joined was evaluate everything that Jacob is doing and to remove everything that he absolutely doesn't love to do and is a burden for him.

B

What kind of things were those at the time then?

C

Operations. Operations.

B

Running the business day to day.

C

Yeah, running the business day to day. Marketing. Running the day to day of marketing. I really wanted him to focus on coming up with the big ideas, which he's absolutely a genius in, coming up with big ideas, working with the research and development team to execute those ideas and sales, you know, he's a master salesman. So I removed everything besides what he absolutely loves to do, which is to expand the sales side of the business and to come up with great ideas. And with that journey already, five, six years now, we have some really exciting results to show and something that I'm really, really happy about.

B

Absolutely. And I think I want to ask you later what, I mean, what it was like to grow up in your family. But I mean, let's just talk about the business of Jacob Co. At the moment. I mean, in the most recent Morgan Stanley report on the Swiss watch industry,

A

you know, they're estimates.

B

These are not hard numbers necessarily.

C

They are our hard numbers. Okay.

B

So what I'm going to get to is indeed, they show you as one of the fastest growing brands in Swiss watches in the watch industry. You know, tell us how you've managed to achieve that at a time when the industry, much of the industry faces challenges. And what kind of growth are we talking about?

C

So year over year, we grew. I believe it was either 13 or 14%. And we were really excited and surprised when we saw that because before that report we had no idea where we stand in terms of growth or not growth compared to our competitors.

B

Because you'd never appeared in the report before.

C

I believe we have appeared. Yeah. Appeared, yeah, we have appeared. But last year was a unique year like you said it was. It was a rather challenging year for the industry. And it's hard to pinpoint one specific thing that we did that allowed us to achieve that. But we had a tremendous year with some new releases. We had one of our best years when it comes to the engagement and the interest of the brand online. We track every metric that we can to help us identify if we're making progress, if more people are talking about us, if more people are looking at our content, if more people are exploring on our website.

B

Basic, you know, I mean, that's not the Most difficult information to get, but maybe you're getting it at a much more specific and high level.

C

Yeah, yeah, we're getting it at a really detailed granular level and last year was our best year when it comes to the interest of the brand online.

B

Why is there anything specific you can point to? Is it a certain release?

C

Yeah, it's a few releases. We had some really exciting partnerships that we launched. We launched our partnership with Saman Khan, who's a big star in India. We launched our partnership with G Dragon. We had some really exciting releases. And yeah, I mean, last year there was more people talking about or interested about our brand than ever before. And because of that, I feel like that also helped us and supported the year that we had.

B

Yeah, you, you mentioned some, you know, launches in India. So is part of this a story about growing into other markets?

C

Absolutely, absolutely. Last year we entered into 38 new point of sales.

B

That's not insignificant.

C

No, no, it's not. Three new stores and the rest shop and shops. Something I don't think many people know is that just in 2021 we only had two point of sales. Now we have over 115.

A

Just from my understanding, I mean, how does that work?

B

Does Jacob and co own these stores and operate them or do you work with partners?

C

We own some of them, but the majority of it is a partner that runs it locally in the industry.

B

So I shouldn't think of it like a franchise.

C

Like a franchise? Yes, like a franchise.

B

And is that an initiative that started under yourself, obviously?

C

Well, in partnership with Jacob. Yes. And that was also one of the things that, which was strategic to allow him to have more time to do it because really before he was doing just everything and it's just not sustainable to do everything. Also you have to be good at everything, which just nobody is. So I'm a true believer that people should focus on what they're truly good at and just focus on that because that's when true creativity or true execution happens.

B

And for those who don't, I mean, I think everybody does know that Jacob and co name and has seen some of your watches. But, you know, let's pretend that someone's been living under a rock and hasn't seen or heard of Jacob and co. So describe to me what the brand is, what kind of watches and pieces that you make. If you had to give me the 10 second elevator pitch.

C

10 second elevator pitch. I think the words that people say the most when they see our watches for the first time is I have never seen this before. And that is the reaction, emotional reaction that we want people to have to say, wow, I have never seen that before. And as we continue to hear that year over year, we know that we are in the right direction. Because that's what I feel like we bring to the industry. Something that just is completely innovative and creative with not only technical details, but also design put together.

B

Yeah. I mean, it's certainly fair to say that when one sees a Jacob and co watch, it often looks like something they have never seen before. Talk to me about the manufacturing process because, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think you have your own manufacturer. Exactly. But tell me what it looks like, the manufacturing process.

C

So our current operation is that we have headquarters here in Geneva. That headquarters is responsible for production, research and development, design, logistics and after sale. So we come up with the ideas and then we have a third party manufacturing company called Concepto which help us execute the movement side of things.

B

Yeah, I mean, they're very well known, third party manufacturer. Extremely complicated and extraordinary kind of stuff comes out of Concepto. So does Concepto do all of your.

C

They do 90% of our movements.

B

Okay.

C

Yeah, they do 90% of our movements. They're our key partner. What we truly love about them, and Jacob's been working with the CEO of that company for over 20 years, is that they've never said no to a challenge. Never. No matter how crazy the idea, no matter how innovative the idea is, they have never said no to it. They've always explored into the unknown with us, which is a really important piece of the puzzle for us. Because Jacob, he's not a watchmaker, as a lot of the founders are, especially in the independent space. He's a jeweler. He's a jeweler and he's a designer. So he comes to the table from a design perspective, which I think is pretty unique and rare in the space. And I think that is partly the reason why we do things without limitations. Because he doesn't think of the constraints of what has been done before in the past, but he thinks what could be accomplished in the future.

A

What would you hold up as the

B

most innovative or important piece that you've done in recent times that expresses what you're, what you're trying to do?

C

Honestly, I think the Astronomia regulator, the reason is because it's a timepiece that celebrates such a significant collection in our company, but it completely redefines the whole collection. It's the smallest Astronomia that we've made and it's one of the most complicated astronomies that we made, displaying the times in three different sections of the watch. Hours, minutes and seconds. And we have the whole movement spinning 360 degrees in one minute. That collection is a celebration to the astronomia line. And the astronomia line put us on the map when it comes to high complications. It was the first complicated watch that Jacob launched in 2014. That's when he launched that watch in Basel, funny enough.

B

Very interesting. And where are you based? Where do you work out of?

C

We're based in New York. So our headquarters is the same building as our store on Facebook, 57th and Park. And we have the second floor, third floor, fourth floor, and fifth floor that, you know, each floor is a different department, basically. So we work from that store, from that office.

B

And on the watches front, what kind of prices are we talking for Jacob? What's the range? What's the average price? Can you.

C

The range is it starts at 14,000, all the way up to 8, 900,000. We do have some models in the millions, like the billionaire watches. And the average price point of somebody walking out of the store is about 150,000.

B

Interesting. And what's your top market? The US, I presume.

C

Our number one market is the Middle East.

B

Okay.

C

Then it's Mexico, and then it's United States.

A

Interesting.

B

And how long is that configuration? Middle east, first Mexico, and then US

C

Three, four years, I would say. Three, four years, yeah.

B

And what shifted there?

C

We had an aggressive expansion. We opened up a new store in Dubai. We have so many POS's in Mexico. Giving the chance for people to see the actual watch has made a significant change in our business because, you know, you gotta just see it. You just gotta see it. And it's so animated, you know, and to see it in real life is just a completely different experience compared to seeing a video of it or on a website or whatever. Yeah.

B

And, you know, obviously we're talking here on Hodinkee's Business of Watches podcast. I think it's fair to say, and I don't think you'd disagree, that Jacob and company pieces aren't the traditional Hodinkee watch enthusiast kind of timepiece. Are watch enthusiasts, watch nerds, people who live and breathe watches? Are you trying to reach those customers? And if you are, absolutely, yeah. Then tell us, you know, why they should consider and be looking at Jacob?

C

Yeah, absolutely. That crowd specifically is taking longer. We need more patience for them, which we respect everybody's opinion, of course, and we are working very hard every day to Convince them that we have a space in this industry, even though we took a different route or a different strategy compared to some of the independents that they highly respect, which are doing just incredible work. So they are a really important crowd for us. We are working every day to, you know, educate them on our timepieces and our process and our innovation and creativity. And it's going to happen slowly but surely. But I know that once they are convinced about our brand and our strategy, then our company just could go to the next level.

B

Yeah. And just to be clear, I mean, what kind of sales, I mean, what, you know, did Morgan Stanley estimate you're doing each year?

C

We do. Last year we did 180 million in sales. For wholesale.

B

For wholesale.

C

For wholesale, yeah.

B

So you know that is not a small watchmaker.

A

Right.

B

You are among the top 50 brands in Switzerland. And so you talked about connecting with that enthusiast community. Are you looking to do, you know, more collaborations with well known independent watchmakers, or are you sort of locked in to that conceptual relationship?

C

Well, we feel the way that we would make progress on convincing this crowd of people is having really long conversations.

A

Sure.

C

Like this one. And educating and educating people. Because what you see online is great. But to actually sit and have a conversation and go through how we do things, our process and how we're, you know, what, you know, what we're achieving and how we're achieving it, then perception slowly changes. And we see that collector by collector, they feel more comfortable and confident about working with our brand or purchasing our brand. And it's happened. It's happened. We have some really passionate collectors that purchase from, independence from the top brands that integrate our watches in their collection because of how different and unique we are.

B

Absolutely. I mean, I'm just looking at a picture here of your Godfather 2 watch. You know, I think there's some people who would immediately say, I have to have that watch. I have to have any watch that's associated with that. It's my favorite film, or there's some other kind of connection to it.

A

But it also.

B

At the same time, are you closing off the brand to some audiences? Who would think I could never, you know, that's not my style of timepiece.

C

Sure. Yeah. I mean, we are very niche because of the products that we design and the process that we take to create them. But I think we've proven that even though it's niche, it's a big niche, there's size to the market. And I truly believe that we're still at anywhere from 10 to 15% of our potential. So, yeah, I think we are, but there's still a lot of room to grow in this niche.

B

Who's the typical Jacob and co watch customer, watch client?

C

Somebody who appreciates our ability to do things different. And in most cases, that person is different himself. Whether he's an entrepreneur who took a different path to create his own success, and people who appreciate both design and technical ability combined together, that would be the typical client for us and someone

B

who can afford a watch that's step number one of your caliber and price.

C

But I wouldn't say that I don't think we have any customers who, who bought our watch as the first watch. They either have a collection of a few pieces or an extensive collection. But, you know, we. We create very different and unique watches. And most of them are conversation pieces. So it's somebody who also wants people to see it and have that conversation, which not everybody does. Somebody wants to wear a very thin vacheron, which I love, under their wrist and just be cool, which is amazing. I love that and I respect that. This is not this watch. It's a different ball game.

B

And you know, you didn't work for the company in your entire professional life. Obviously you built another business before that. What kind of, you know, tell me about your journey with watches. I mean, do you collect anything outside of Jacob?

C

Outside, no. Outside of Jacob and Co. Outside, no. I do have a collection of my own Jacob and Co watches, but outside of the company, I don't.

B

And growing up, what was your interest and exposure in the business and watches and jewelry?

C

Well, every night Jacob would come home with a different story. So my brothers and I, we were really ingrained in kind of the day to day, as if we were there at the office, but in reality we were at school. But, you know, Jacob would come home and, you know, he's so charismatic and excited. What's exciting, what's going on? And he would tell us these stories and, you know, we would learn from them. And yeah, we were there and listened to them and kind of absorb the business. And now somewhat 20 years later, the whole family works for the company, Even my two brothers. My older brother's the commercial director of the company. So it's a full family business.

B

And what should we think of your father Jacob's role? You said designer, but I mean, how much is he involved still?

C

He's very much involved. Very much involved. People think that he retired or something like that, but he is very much involved. He's very active in the business. He's really Excited to see how much we've achieved in a very short period of time now. And he is fully on board with a lot of energy to help us to continue to grow this thing. Because again, I really think that we are just at 10 to 15% of our potential.

A

And one of the ways that I

B

learned about Jacob and co was through this great piece in Hodinkee a few years ago by my colleague Malika Crawford about the five Time Zone and the role that that watch played in shaping watch culture and all the celebrities that were spotted wearing that watch. Is there a way for Jacob and co to recapture some of that magic, magic that existed with that piece, whether through a new interpretation of it or, you know, looking back to some other iconic, well known models from different eras?

C

I will say that a reinterpretation of the five Time Zone is not off the table. It's such an iconic piece and it would be really exciting and cool to see it reinterpreted with our new language and DNA of high complications. But taking the design essence of that watch and integrating it together could be something really cool. So it's not off the table.

B

Are there other candidates, models that you could do, you know, try and do a similar thing as well? Or is the five Time Zone if we're going to see something, it would

C

be the five Time Zone. If we would bring anything back, it would definitely be the five Time Zone. It was just so iconic. I mean, it was just like. It wasn't a technical watch by no means, of course, but in terms of fashion watch, it just. It cornered the market completely. Really, it cornered the market. And you had to have one to be cool. That was just it. You had to have one.

B

Yeah.

C

Like Jacob would tell me stories where he would walk into a restaurant at one point and half the restaurant is wearing his watch. I mean, this is crazy. It's just crazy.

B

That is an extraordinary thing and that is what every brand aspires to. Can you get there again though, and have a piece like that that is so front and center in popular culture?

C

I think our business model has changed because we went so high end with a price point it would be rare to have, unless we do an event, of course. But I don't think at this point we would want to have that same scenario because something that we pride ourselves on is the exclusivity of it. We don't produce many watches a year, you know, high complication. We produce maybe 1,000 to 1,500 a year. To spread that out across the whole world, it's nothing. It's a few pieces per country or et cetera. So it's just a completely different business model now.

B

And in total production, about 5,000 a year. About 5,000 a year. So that puts you in a company with a lot of other Elonga and zona makes about 5,000.

C

I love that brand, by the way. Way love that brand.

B

So last thing, we'll wrap it up. I mean, how are you finding the market this year? There's a lot going on in the world. Your customers, your biggest market is the Middle East. US is still a big market which has been a great growth driver for the Swiss watch industry. How are things looking for this year? Do you think you can grow sales?

C

I think we will at the end of the year come up as a positive. Positive. We're definitely feeling the situations that are happening across the world, but we are optimistic that things will turn around and when they do, there's going to be the same purchasing power that was in the Middle east as it was in the previous years. So definitely feeling it. I would be lying if I said everything is fine.

B

I mean, what has it felt like since the conflict?

C

Yeah, I will tell you with data. We used to have 100 walk ins on average a day in the Dubai boutique. A lot of people, especially for our brand. And now it's like 10. Nothing that we did as a brand to decrease that demand or interest or curiosity. It's just traffic at the end of the day. And it's not just us. It's not just us. So that's the current situation and we're optimistic and that things will resolve and things will go back to normal as they were before.

B

Excellent. Well, optimistic outlook despite some perhaps unexpected challenges. Ben Erabaugh, thank you very much for joining us on the business of watches. Thank you sir. Have a great day. And that's the business of Watches for this episode.

A

We hope you enjoyed. Please head on over to Hodinky.com where

B

you can join the discussion and leave

A

any comments or questions about this episode or the business of watches in general. Who knows, we might even answer your

B

question on a future episode. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

C

Sam.