WHAT TIME IS IT PLEASE, MONSIEUR?
Frequently acknowledged for its creations honouring ladies, this time round the Parisian house has created its highly-technical yet totally-designer Monsieur with a male audience in mind.
This Chanel-imagined, discreetly-named Monsieur represents a first major breakthrough in watchmaking expertise. And if ever the wish was to impress, well, you might as well go for a piece that features a rather unconventional time display and incomparable style, yet reiterates a few of the Parisian house’s design codes.
Monsieur embraces the calibre 1, developed in Chanel’s Swiss watchmaking studios, a hand-wound, mechanical movement that offers a 72-hour power reserve and hosts two complications greatly appreciated by men: a jumping hour and retrograde minute. The mechanism is centre staged through the sapphire-crystal caseback. The 40 mm-diameter case is proposed in a choice of beige gold – an elegantly, soft-toned alloy, created by Chanel – or white gold.
The superbly ivory silvered dial plays with textures and volumes to perfection. The upper segment of the grainy-effect disc has been carved to cradle the circular contours of the retrograde minute counter. This counter is completed by a 0 to 90 black-figured graduation. The jumping hour, visible through a large-framed, screw-finished aperture at 6 o’clock, evokes the silhouette of the world-famous Chanel N°5 perfume bottle. The running seconds, nestling between the minute tracker and the hours, is slightly off-centred towards 6 o’clock and is decorated with circular striations. Monsieur’s hands are covered with beige gold or white gold depending on the model chosen.
A black alligator leather strap with ardillon buckle adds the finishing touch to this timepiece.
Given that Monsieur is called Monsieur, it goes without saying that this piece will undoubtedly appeal to the Chanel woman who, like Mademoiselle with her penchant for jersey garments traditionally created for the gents, adores appropriating masculine to make it feminine.
Price: CHF 32,350 (beige gold) – CHF 33,900 (white gold)
By Sharmila Bertin