Shareif Ziyadat / FilmMagic / Getty Images
PortraitHis name is engraved in pop culture, chanted in songs. He even served as inspiration for the character in a film. Because, in the eyes of rap stars, the jeweler is a scintillating marker of success. But the back room of this New York Jew born in Uzbekistan is less brilliant.
Jacob Arabo has a shiny hair, a curly eye, a generously extended hand. Out of the question, for this goldsmith and watchmaker, to sink into sobriety – even when he receives us on the land of Calvin, in Geneva, where he set up workshops. An assistant brings a thick suitcase, opens it carefully: the boss wants us to try his most exuberant watches. Go for the Rasputin Tourbillon. Set with 188 diamonds and a heart-shaped ruby, its dial depicts a coitus between two automata. "You can adjust the speed of intercourse, he says in gleaming English, with a touch of Uzbek accent. A Taiwanese woman bought it. Surprising, isn't it? "
Here is the Oil Pump, whose mechanism duplicates that of an oil pump: "MBS (Mohammed Ben Salman) has the first copy, swaggering Arabo. He’s a great leader, he’s going to transform Saudi Arabia. It's time to handle the Las Vegas-style Astronomia Casino, with roulette and ball spinning under the hands: a munificent tribute to one of Arabo's historic customers, Sharon Stone.
Then comes the turn of the'Opera Godfather Musical, which miniaturizes the universe of Godfather, until playing the soundtrack. "We worked a lot on the case of this watch", plastered the boss of Jacob & Co, designating a large black box, looking like a coffin. Is his friend Al Pacino one of the lucky owners of the object? "No, with Al, I'm developing something even crazier: a watch Scarface ! "
Gone from almost nothing
Like the hero of Brian De Palma's film, Jacob Arabo started from far away, and almost nothing. Like him, he has become an essential reference for anyone who prides himself on hip-hop. For three decades, gangsta rap's gotha has dubbed him "Jacob the Jeweler" or "King of Bling" – nicknames that appear on nearly 70 tracks by Rick Ross, Nas or 50 Cent. For Soviet civil status, however, he was born Yakov Arabov, fifty-five years ago, in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. If the community from which he came – the Bukhara Jews – flourished during the Silk Road era, now is the time for communist restrictions. His father is a vodka seller, his mother, a hairdresser. The only boy in a family of four, Jacob left school at 13.
In 1979, the Arabovs left for New York, taking advantage of the softening of the emigration policy under Brezhnev. Jacob is 14, quizzes a few words of English and dives to help his family; his father converted to selling hot dogs. "I couldn't bear the frustration of my parents", he confides. The government funds six-month professional courses for newcomers and chooses the jewelry option.
