When you’ve got millions of dollars burning a hole in your pocket and you need some retail therapy, there’s only one place to go: Dubai.
The most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and one of the wealthiest cities in the world, Dubai has a well-established reputation as a luxury shopping destination. The combination of oil money and status as one of the world’s busiest international travel hubs makes Dubai “the shopping capital of the Middle East,” and virtually all the big luxury brands have multiple boutiques in the city. Naturally, it’s a favourite destination of the rich and the famous. Like Conor McGregor.
The self-proclaimed “face of the fight game” and notoriously big spender is in the City of Gold, taking some time off before his upcoming fight in Abu Dhabi. But McGregor’s not the kind of man to let a golden opportunity go to waste. In between stints in the gym or family time with his fiance and two young kids, McGregor’s been dabbling in a bit of luxury watch shopping, as one does when you’re in the UAE.
But the way McGregor shops for watches is a bit different to you and I. Where we might feel intimidated walking into a Rolex boutique and asking, ‘pretty please, may we have a look at an Oyster Perpetual’, McGregor sits down at one of Jacob & Co.’s Dubai outposts and gets handed a tray of million-dollar watches to peruse at his pleasure, no questions asked.
The Irishman shared a snippet of his watch shopping process on his Instagram Story, showing off a tray of Jacob & Co. watches worth collectively over $5 million: a Billionaire III worth $3 million alone; a Twin Turbo Furious with two huge flying tourbillons dangling like the proverbial; multiple Astronomia ‘Godfather’ Opera novelties; as well as a smattering of other gold and jewelled watches.
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Such a flagrant display of wealth is nothing new for the Irishman, who’s a regular customer of Jacob & Co.’s. But not all of his fans are on board.
“Floyd probably already have all of those,” one commenter snarked on Instagram, referring to Conor’s one-time rival Floyd Mayweather, who’s also known for his outlandish taste in timepieces. They’re probably not wrong, frankly.
“Not a decent piece in the bunch,” another commented. Jacob & Co. is quite a divisive brand, and it’s not hard to see why. Where other watch brands pride themselves on accuracy, durability or centuries-old savoir-faire, Jacob & Co.’s whole shtick is making the most outrageously lavish, expensive watches on the market. Naturally, they’re very popular with celebrities looking to flaunt their wealth, but are largely dismissed by real watch fans. One fan hoped he was just “window shopping.”
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One commenter, responding to the question of whether McGregor added yet another Jacob & Co. to his collection, had this to say: “probably, but they all ugly as hell so I hope he didn’t.” Couldn’t have put it better ourselves…
McGregor is set to face American brawler Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257 at ‘Fight Island’ in Abu Dhabi on the 24th of January. It’ll be the first fight Conor’s had in a while, and the first time he’s fought Poirier since they faced off back in 2014.