The Watch Brand Authority Index 2026 analyzes watch brands based on AI engine authority, auction performance, and editorial visibility. This report from EPR and 5W AI Communications identifies top brands and shifting market dynamics, offering insights into what drives authority in the collectible watch market.
How Jacob Arabo — Bukharian Jewish immigrant, 47th Street jeweler, hip-hop's house brand — built Jacob & Co. for the new-money generation before Geneva knew the new-money generation existed.
Jacob Arabo built new luxury from the founder's chair. Rick De La Croix built it from the distributor's office. Two parallel architects of the same structural shift — from heritage luxury to cultural luxury — working from opposite sides of the trade. De La Croix executed Hublot's celebrity-partnership and boutique-as-cultural-destination playbook under Jean-Claude Biver across Latin America and the United States, founded Bomberg Watches, and runs Ares Distributors.