Chanel stays the pace with its third movement in three years

Each time Chanel launches a new watch, it’s as though it in some way felt it had to prove itself all over again. Which it does. With great success. The J12, launched in 2000, is already widely considered to be the twenty-first century’s first iconic watch. Should the brand feel the need to assert its expertise in the métiers d’art, it gives us the Mademoiselle Privé collection, introduced in 2012 – another masterstroke featuring some of the most beautiful dials there are. And so it goes on, including one of its latest lines: the Boy.Friend, which debuted in 2015.

With a case shape not unlike that of the Première – Chanel’s first venture into watchmaking in 1987 –, a dial stripped of indications and no shortage of personality, in particular the extra-large 37 x 28 mm version with a mechanical movement, the Boy.Friend was an instant hit, playing up its masculine traits while giving them a softer edge. Having backed another winner, Chanel decided it was time to raise the stakes… in the form of the Boy.Friend Skeleton driven by Calibre 3, its third in-house movement.

A mechanical mindset

Chanel had already shown it was serious about mechanical calibres and their attendant complications through collaborations with Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi on certain remarkable timepieces such as the J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse and the Première Camélia Flying Tourbillon. Clearly though, this only scratched the surface of Chanel’s ambitions in mechanical calibres, and so in 2011 the brand began to look into how it could develop its own movements. It had the means to match its ambitions too: G&F Châtelain, the supplier Chanel acquired in 1993 for its expertise in manufacturing ceramic components, a key element of the J12, was more than ready to add mechanical movement development to its repertoire. As always, Chanel intended working with the best, and approached Romain Gauthier. As well as heading up his own brand, the watchmaker-machinist is well-respected in the industry as a maker of top-flight components, and in particular gear wheels. The partnership led to Chanel taking a stake in Gauthier’s company, a deal made public in 2016.

This was also the year the Parisian firm presented its first in-house movement, Calibre 1. For the pleasure of confounding expectations, this movement with instantaneous jumping hours, retrograde minutes and small seconds turned up inside a men’s watch, the aptly-named Monsieur. A year later, Chanel celebrated the Première’s thirtieth anniversary with Calibre 2, a second in-house movement inside the Skeleton Camélia. Chanel could have been “forgiven” for easing off the pace of a new movement each year, particularly as this has never been its avowed intention. Instead, it is officially presenting its Calibre 3 at Baselworld, and this time the honours go to the Boy.Friend.

Technology at the service of beauty

“Chanel and I both believe that technology should be at the service of beauty,” says Frédéric Grangié, CEO of Chanel Watches and Jewellery. “Chanel’s Fine Watches, in fact all our creations, begin as an aesthetic concept which then takes shape through a range of techniques. This philosophy allows for complete creative freedom to the highest standard of quality. Hence the movements, and the watches they equip, are brought to life through close collaboration between Chanel’s design studio in Paris and our Manufacture, G&F Châtelain in La Chaux-de Fonds. It’s a joint endeavour among skilled and acknowledged specialists.” The result, as showcased by the Boy.Friend Skeleton, takes the form of vertically interlocking circles that appear to float inside the octagonal beige gold case, with the bridges positioned at the back to better reveal the watch’s “beating heart”.

Completing its line-up of new releases, Chanel comes to Baselworld with a fresh interpretation of the Monsieur, featuring a black Grand Feu enamel dial and the Chanel lion in sculpted gold. Joining it is a derivative of the Calibre 2 with a round mainplate. It equips a Mademoiselle Privé watch whose off-centre hours and minutes leave room for the métiers d’art artisans to express themselves. Code Coco, a bijou-watch presented last autumn, makes its entrance under the Baselworld spotlights alongside a J12 with lacquered dial. For Chanel, watches are already a world of their own.