BackBaselworld: Chanel’s first men’s watch
The limited edition Monsieur de Chanel has two technically challenging complications that took over five years to develop by a team of eight specialists
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At this year’s Baselworld, luxury fashion house Chanel SA debuted its first men’s watch, the Monsieur de Chanel. The watch, produced in a limited edition of 300 (half in beige gold and half in white gold), has fully integrated movements which incorporate two technically challenging complications: a jumping hour with a pronounced hour display at 6 o’clock and a retrograde minute. Both took over five years to develop by a team (specifically hired by Chanel) of eight watchmaking specialists in movement construction and assembly.
Interestingly enough, in 2011, Chanel acquired a stake in Romain Gauthier, a highly regarded independent Swiss watchmaker. While it was all hush-hush, Chanel announced it only now to coincide with the debut of Monsieur. Gauthier is known to make state-of-the-art watches and also supplies several brands with wheels for their movements.
Tailor-made specifications made by Gauthier have been incorporated in the Monsieur watch as well. The Monsieur also contains Chanel’s first in-house movement, the Calibre 1, and will be the first timepiece created entirely at the company’s assembly plant in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. A quick heads-up to watch aficionados: the Calibre 1 is a hand-wound, four-Hertz affair.
The dial configurations have that distinct Chanel touch. The 40mm round case has a silvered opaline dial. The frame around the hour numeral takes the octagonal silhouette of Place Vendôme, and the lion adorning the movement and crown will be the mark of future in-house haute horologerie movements. The watch’s back is equally eyecatching as it showcases the sensual circular inner workings of the timepiece. The Monsieur has a total of 170 parts and is finished variously in matte, brushed and glossy black ADLC (amorphous diamond-like carbon). The watch has a power reserve of three days.
Price: Beige gold is $36,000 and white gold edition is $34,500. Available from June onwards.
Supriya David’s Twitter handle is @superear
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