This recently popped up on one of my feeds and quite frankly, I was intrigued. Mind you, Chanel isn’t a brand that’s on my radar, and even though I was aware of their accomplishments in the watchmaking world, Chanel to me were handbags and perfumes, with the occasional lipstick thrown in the mix.
Now, dear readers, before your thumbs start tapping and drawing out the pitchfork emoticon, hear me out. Or rather, keep scrolling.
I still remember quite fondly the time my colleague and I visited the flagship boutique at 31 Rue Cambon, because she wanted to buy the bag. I think it was the 2.55. To be honest I don’t remember this particular detail. They all look the same to me. Yes, iconic and unmistakably Chanel in black with quilted diamond pattern, but otherwise... Of course, who can forget the No.5 perfume? As someone who is not a keen disciple of the fashion industry, I think that pretty much covers it...
Let’s get back to the topic at hand. When I saw this my interest piqued. What a wonderful and whimsical display! Such Playfulness. I needed to know more! But guess what? Clocks, being something less “commercial” today, it was surprisingly difficult to find any information of note to quench my thirst. What’s that you say? The official website? Sure. Have a look. It’s not exactly brimming with information on this particular item of whimsicality. Therefore i fired up Google, and let my fingers do the research.
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| Chanel J12 feat. Coco, Limited to 555 pieces each colour. |
It appears that this caricature of Coco Chanel was first used to tell the time on the J12 ceramic watch back in 2017 (that I could find. Leave a comment below if I’m wrong), in a limited edition of 555 pieces per colour (well, black or white). They have brought her back in a table clock form this year. There was a different version of the clock previously featuring a dial inspired by her love of coromandel screens. The obsidian case is of course, inspired by the shape of the stopper on the perfume No.5, which in turn was directly inspired by the shape of Place Vendôme in Paris.
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| Chanel Coromandel Clock |
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| Bird's eye view of Place Vendome |
What I really wanted information on, and something that was difficult to come by, was the movement in the clock. From first glance it’s skeletonised mechanical movement, but it’s too large to be a watch movement, as my first instinct was that it was the Calibre 2, designed with the help from Romain Gauthier, in the shape inspired by a Camellia flower; a favourite of Coco’s. Upon further digging, I managed to find what i needed. The movement appears to have been designed by Chanel Creative Studio and produced by the famed L’Epee Manufacture. You know, the ones that do all the clock collabs with MB&F, not to mention some really cool clocks of their own. The dial features a playful caricature of Coco Chanel, complete in diamonds and pearls, with cloissone enamel by master enameller Anita Porchet.
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| Chanel Calibre 2 - in the shape of a Camellia flower |
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| 8 Day clock movement, designed by Chanel, produced by L'Epee |
The other collab which is much more distinctively L’Epee, the Chronosphere, was more widely covered.
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| The Chronosphere, Collab with L'Epee |
So there you have it. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one dying to know what was powering the mademoiselle clock. There’s gotta be at least another 1-2 of you out there. And in case you’re wondering why there was another Chanel related article, it was the search for this clock movement that led me to the whole Kenissi movement supplier, which was covered in the previous post.
Coco Clock Specs:
Dimensions: 110mm x 153mm x 61mm
Cased in Obsidian
18k gold base with 136 diamonds
18k gold ring with 305 diamonds
8 Day power reserve manual wind with winding key
LImited Edition of 10 pieces
Price: Approx. $756,000 AUD
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