The J12-365 watch maintains traces of its past through its round format marked by Arab numerals and the fact that it’s sculpted in ceramic, its characteristic primary material. But this interpretation sees a few new additions arise through confronting a masculine watch with the finer wrist of the fairer sex. The usual diameter of either 33 or 38 cm is abandoned in favor of a never-before-seen intermediary size of 36.5 cm, a reminder of its new namesake. 365 is also a link to the number of days in the year, restituted during the presentation by messages, photos, memories, and humor.
This new Chanel creation is offered in eight versions limited to black or white, steel or beige gold, diamond-encrusted or non. The watch’s refined look unfolds through a brand new 18 carat gold alloy created specifically by the brand. Chanel’s favorite color is reminiscent of her years at the orphanage of Aubazine en Corrèze, who’s walls echoed the location’s austere neutrality. She loved every shade of this color that evokes skin, elegance, clay, wet sand, and honey, like a composition of sleek elements that she summed up by saying: “I take refuge in beige because it’s natural.” Mechanical innovations are also added to the new aesthetic quality: a new automatic movement allows for a power reserve of 42 hours, giving more breadth to a love for the passing of time. The design completes this feat of excellence with a fine serrated bezel replacing the previous graded one, the embellishment this time reaching all the way to the inner bezel ring, giving this new first its initial pure sport-chic vocation, while its simplicity emanates from an azure guilloche that gives the object the brightness it was missing. Finally, a few elements were subtly moved around; the date measures the days elapsed at 6:00 rather than 4:30, signaling the end of a stylistic era while reintegrating the small second hand, balancing the aesthetic with a correlation between the longest time measure and the shortest. Presented at BaselWorld from March 27th to April 3rd, this new pearl won’t be available in stores until June 2, 2014. The wait for this precious timepiece will only add to appreciation for the universal aesthetic of its design.
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