By Harlan Chapman-Green
Sadly for us, all here at WristReview Baselworld actually ends in a few days time, but don’t fear! There’s still loads of watches left to see, so to keep your appetites for watches whetted we’re going to be taking a look at a new Chanel watch with a few differences to it. Most of us know Chanel by its luscious jewellery or fragrance lines, but for those of us in the horology world we’re blessed with watches such as the J12 and pieces made of ceramics.
It’s become more and more of a demand from fans and collectors around the world that watch companies develop their own in-house movements for their watches, it’s a draw for customers to see the company putting their own work in. Gone are the days where companies could hope the audience would for an off the shelf movement with the likes of Rolex, Omega, Tudor and many others ramping up in-house production. Of course, companies such as those in the Holy Trinity of watchmaking needn’t worry too much about this as their movements are mostly in-house anyway.
Even some fashion companies are in the game as well, Chanel’s main concern when it comes to wristwatches is undoubtedly Bulgari, who have not only been making beautiful watches for years but also develop uber complex thin watches such as the Octo Finissimo Tourbillon which was the world’s thinnest tourbillon watch a few years ago and this year’s Octo Finissimo Répétition Minutes watch, the thinnest minute repeater watch in the world. Pieces like those have in-house made movements, but Chanel is a little way off that yet with this, their first in-house made watch.
The Monsieur de Chanel took 5 years of research to develop and it actually shows on the dial. There’s a large jumping hours display at 6 O’clock surrounded by an artful edging to it that’s a nod to the top of Chanel Number 5 perfume bottles and Chanel’s spiritual home. Above that is the central seconds subdial and a large retrograde minutes hand above that still, the hand to me seems like it belongs in an old school rally car like a Lancia Stratos.
The back of the Monsieur is stark and yet classy and sophisticated with the satin silver and grey gears and the balance wheel separated by its own boundary. “Just how did Chanel manage all this?” you ask, well, back in 2011 when work started on the project Chanel acquired Romain Gauthier and got the experts there to help them, they did a good job didn’t they? Both versions in white and beige gold are limited to 150 editions each and are priced at $36,000 for the white gold and $34,500 for the beige gold version, maybe we’ll see a diamond version at some point too? For more info, please visit chanel.com
HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN – MANAGING EDITOR
A keen bass guitar player, Harlan enjoys all the perks modern watchmaking technologies the industry has to offer. Although you might catch him sampling Omegas or the “odd” Rolex, Harlan loves all things Haute Horology, with his three favourite brands being Breguet, A.Lange & Söhne and Vacheron Constantin. He hopes to study timekeeping more in depth someday and will never be able to thank his father enough for introducing him to the industry. You can follow him on Instagram Read his articles here
