For Chanel, It’s Couture O’Clock at Watches and Wonders
Telling time with a dressmaker’s aesthetic.
Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel learned to sew as a child, and on her way to building what is perhaps the most famous fashion house, she worked as a seamstress by day and cabaret singer by night. So it’s fitting that the new watch collection that Arnaud Chastaingt, director of Chanel’s Watchmaking Creation Studio, created for Watches and Wonders is a tribute to the designer doyenne and the tools of her craft: thread, thimble, safety pins, scissors, and measuring tape.
A new version of Chanel’s J12 watch, the Couture Workshop which features a Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in her atelier.
The collection, available in Chanel boutiques in June, includes various versions of the J12—one model in which time is indicated by a pair of scissors while others depict Madame Chanel in a series of animations. The Couture O’Clock collection also includes the Première Ruban Couture, a watch with a wraparound leather strap that resembles a measuring tape, and the Première Charms watch that is more bracelet than watch, with dangling charms in the form of a thimble, safety pin, and spool of thread. The new Boy•Friend Couture watch features a classic Chanel tweed jacket on the dial with an 18-karat gold chain as bezel.
Première Ruban Couture watch features a wraparound leather strap with the lines and numerals of a tape measure.
Première Charms watch.
Boy•Friend Couture watch features a classic Chanel tweed jacket on the dial with an 18-karat gold chain as bezel.
The standout is more wonder than watch: the Couture O’Clock, a musical tabletop clock that houses five dressmaker mannequins of ceramic and marble each adorned with a diamond brooch under a chandelier, a replica of the chandelier at Chanel’s Rue Cambon apartment. The masterpiece does tell the time, displayed by a tape measure at the base, with the clock wound using an 18-karat gold key.
Couture O’Clock, a musical tabletop clock.
Bust long necklace.
Thimble long necklace.
The collection would not be complete without jewellery timepieces, and this year a selection of long necklaces double as time tellers: Thimble long necklace, Safety Pin long necklace, Private Needle Pick long necklace, and the Bust long necklace—a sparkling dressmaker mannequin with 132 brilliant-cut diamonds.
Chanel is in the business of dressing the wrist in a je ne sais quoi manner that has come to define the code of the house.
