When Anant Ambani steps out, the watch on his wrist is never an afterthought. The youngest heir to the Reliance Industries empire has built what is estimated to be a ₹200 crore watch collection — one that has drawn attention from Mark Zuckerberg at his wedding, featured custom pieces immortalising his Vantara wildlife sanctuary legacy, and now includes what Jacob & Co calls a one-of-a-kind musical masterpiece: the Opera Godfather Baguette “Shiva,” valued at nearly $2 million or approximately ₹12 crore.
Anant was recently spotted wearing the piece — and it is the kind of watch that demands a closer look.
The Watch Itself — What ₹12 Crore Actually Buys
The Jacob & Co Opera Godfather Baguette “Shiva” is a pièce unique — one watch, made once, never to be repeated. It is crafted in 18K rose gold and set with over 1,000 diamonds, including hundreds of precisely cut baguette stones that cover the case in a jewel-like architecture that catches light from every angle. Baguette diamonds — rectangular step-cut stones — are among the hardest to set correctly, with each requiring individual fitting at fractions of a millimetre precision across a curved case. The visual result is a surface that is as much jewellery as it is instrument.
Inside, the engineering is even more extraordinary. The movement contains 658 individual components — a number that rivals the complexity of a full-sized pocket watch from the golden age of mechanical horology — all hand-finished and regulated to function on a human wrist. At the centre of the movement sits a hand-crafted figurine of Lord Shiva in his meditative state, accompanied by the Hindu symbol ‘Om’, placed within a flying triple-axis tourbillon that continuously rotates on three simultaneous planes. The triple-axis tourbillon is one of the most difficult mechanical complications to engineer correctly — each additional axis multiplies the precision required exponentially — and the flying designation means it is cantilevered without an upper bridge, giving an unobstructed view of the Shiva figurine spinning within it.
The theatrical element is the music box. Press a button and the watch plays the iconic theme from The Godfather through an elaborate 120-note mechanical system — real miniaturised pins striking real tuned steel combs, not a speaker or digital component. The 120-note capacity gives the melody enough resolution to be both recognisable and emotionally complete. It turns every performance into a deliberate moment rather than background noise.
Why Anant Ambani Wearing This Piece Is More Than a Style Story
The choice of a watch centred on Lord Shiva — crafted by one of the world’s most flamboyant luxury watch houses at a price point of ₹12 crore — is consistent with the cultural and aesthetic sensibility Anant has been building publicly. The Vantara custom watch that immortalises his wildlife sanctuary, the Richard Mille pieces worn at various Ambani family events, the Jacob & Co pieces that caught global attention at his wedding — these are not random luxury acquisitions. They are a collection built with a coherent identity: one that combines Indian iconography, technical grandeur and the kind of one-of-one exclusivity that the ultra-high-net-worth watch market at its absolute apex produces.
Placing Shiva within a flying tourbillon is a statement that lands differently when worn by someone of Anant Ambani’s cultural context compared to any other collector. The Nataraja — Shiva’s cosmic dance form — is itself a meditation on time, rhythm and creation. Inside a watch that is literally built to count and display time, while simultaneously playing music from one of cinema’s most iconic scores, the symbolism is layered in a way that goes well beyond conspicuous luxury.
The ₹200 Crore Collection Behind the Shiva Piece
The Opera Godfather Baguette “Shiva” is the latest high-profile addition to a collection that Watch of Luxy and industry observers estimate at approximately ₹200 crore in total value. Anant’s collection includes Richard Mille pieces — the Swiss brand synonymous with ultra-thin, technically audacious watches worn by athletes and billionaires — alongside multiple Jacob & Co grand complications. It was a Jacob & Co piece at his wedding that reportedly caught Mark Zuckerberg’s attention, putting the collection in an international spotlight that extended well beyond India’s watch community.
The custom Vantara timepiece — commemorating Anant’s wildlife rescue and rehabilitation sanctuary in Jamnagar — represents the collection’s most personally meaningful piece, a watch made specifically to reflect a cause he has championed publicly and invested significantly in. The combination of bespoke storytelling and technical excellence is the thread that runs through the entire collection.
Jacob & Co’s India Connection
The Opera Godfather Baguette “Shiva” landing on Anant Ambani’s wrist is not entirely surprising given Jacob & Co’s deliberate cultivation of the Indian and Indian diaspora ultra-high-net-worth market. The brand’s aesthetic — maximalist, grand, theatrical, culturally resonant — maps closely onto the tastes of India’s billionaire class, and pieces like the Shiva are designed with exactly this buyer profile in mind. A one-of-one watch built around one of Hinduism’s most iconic deities, at a price point of ₹12 crore, is a product with a specific intended owner in mind. It appears to have found them.