Pendant watches shaped like lipstick, an oversized bejeweled watch recalling a haute couturier’s pincushion and watch dials etched with images of the fashion designer Coco Chanel — watchmaking at Chanel has always had a different flavor compared with its pure-player Swiss counterparts.
Leading that vision is Frédéric Grangié, president of Chanel watches and fine jewelry, who joined the fashion house in 2016 after more than two decades at LVMH.
Chanel entered watchmaking in 1987 with the Première, an octagonal case watch that evoked the stopper of Chanel’s famous No. 5 perfume bottle.
The watch celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, and Mr. Grangié said in a video interview from Geneva that, “By watchmaker standards, we are very, very young. But if I look at the number of creations, novelties and unexpected designs that we brought over the course of 40 years, it is probably more than most.”
Today, the watch that is most synonymous with Chanel is the ceramic J12, first introduced in 2000. The watch was seven years in the making by Jacques Helleu, artistic director of Chanel, who was inspired by racing cars and yachts, the latter competing in the America’s Cup. He crafted the watch in ceramic, which broke the mold at the time.
“I see the J12’s creation as a bit of a selfish gesture,” recalled Mr. Grangié. “Jacques created a dream watch for himself. His instinct brought him to ceramic as opposed to steel, because probably the way that steel was blackened at the time was not what he had in mind.
“Ceramic turned out to be a very luxurious proposal, which had never been done. To some extent, the J12 is the start of not only our icon, but the true watchmaker’s watch.” Chanel followed up the original black J12 with white ceramic three years later.
Last year the house unveiled the J12 Bleu — a new hue that took five years to develop — and the collection is once more a focus in 2026. During an interview, which has been edited and condensed, Mr. Grangié explained Chanel’s unique watchmaking vision, how the house is an industry expert and supplier of ceramic today and his nostalgic take on vintage Casio calculator watches.
As a fashion house, how would you describe Chanel’s watchmaking vision?
Our vision is quite different from a lot of pure players in the industry. We have a different origin and history — everything brings us back to our founder, Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel. That approach has been the same for every product category at Chanel, which is always creation-led. And for watchmaking, that starts with the vision of Arnaud Chastaingt, director of our watchmaking creation studio.
The counterpart to that is having the greatest technology, meaning the greatest watchmaking savoir-faire and excellence. Our in-house manufacture ensures that the integrity of our creations will be on par with the best of the best in the world of watches.
In 1993 you bought a manufacture in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and made the decision to vertically integrate your watchmaking operations. Why?
At Chanel, our product categories are vertically integrated. This is a key difference to other players.
Vertical integration brings integrity that the product will eventually be exactly as we want. It’s our decision. We control everything, and it becomes our responsibility — which chimes with Chanel as a family-owned business.
Arnaud Chastaingt’s imagination has no limits. For example, when he and I attended the Chanel haute couture show several years ago, Arnaud noticed the pincushions on the dressmaker’s wrists and immediately saw a watch. This eventually became the 55mm-diameter Mademoiselle Privé Pincushion watch.
There is no business plan or PowerPoint presentation that will ever suggest you do a watch that’s basically a pincushion, at 55 millimeters in diameter and which will be very feminine. We always see what is happening in other areas within the brand — ideas happen organically. It adds layers to the story of our watchmaking, and in terms of inspiration, the sources are infinite.
What do you think customers seek in a watch?
No one at this point needs another watch. So it’s truly about desirability. In our case, desirability comes from those uniquely Chanel creations — and the fact that the quality will be on par with the best.
There are certainly key Chanel clients who, year after year, buy our creations because they are collecting those pieces. At the same time, we have been recruiting more clients who come for unexpected, singular but uniquely Chanel creations. The design and beauty of the pieces are a very big part of that equation.
The Chanel J12 is a key collection this year and includes a new advertising campaign with the models Gisele Bündchen and Clément Chabernaud. What can we expect, product wise?
One focus is line extension. Most of Chanel’s watchmaking offer is either unisex or 95 percent feminine, but we know there is a great men’s clientele for the J12. This year we’re bringing new models sized at 42 millimeters, one of which is the Chanel J12 Superleggera, which is returning. Its aesthetic, Chanel trademark and name (which references racing cars famous for their sporty and sleek allure) have a cult status. We will also have new 28-millimeter versions of the J12, which is very feminine.
The second focus is based on the J12 Bleu from last year, which was initially a limited launch. Now the J12 Bleu becomes a permanent offer, staying as part of the line like the white and black J12, for many years to come.
I find there’s an irony in having taken five years to create the J12 Bleu, which was longer than we wanted. Developing the perfect blue as we intended — which is that quite famous Chanel blue — also made us realize that we had the ability to create other colors we didn’t originally have in mind. In the end, it was frankly the best exercise because, whether in terms of ceramic finishing or colors, I think we’ve reached a new level in terms of mastering the material.
Many brands offer ceramic watches. How is Chanel’s J12 different?
It’s a huge endeavor to integrate a full ceramic manufacture within our manufacture. Today we control 100 percent of that production chain, from the pellets to the final product. To my knowledge, there are only three groups in Switzerland today who are able to do what we do, including ourselves.
We are also a supplier of ceramic watches to other brands, which for me is truly the greatest achievement. It means that other brands share your level of expertise and basically take you as an expert in that field. It’s one of our greatest sources of pride to be part of the watchmaking ecosystem and contribute to that ecosystem. I think this is where Swiss watchmaking is very special. Of course we are all competitors, but at the same time there’s a true sense of community, and one will go where basically the expertise is the best.
Since last year, Chanel has been the official timekeeper of the Oxford versus Cambridge Boat Race, which was Chanel’s first sports partnership in its history. Why this event?
This particular race is about absolute excellence — you have some of the greatest athletes, but also some of the greatest students. You have two great institutions, Oxford and Cambridge. It’s one of the oldest sport competitions in the world — celebrating the women’s centenary in 2027 and the men’s bicentenary in 2029 — and you have Chanel, which is also a kind of institution, except always moving on and forward.
Your earliest watchmaking memory?
When I was around 7 years old, my uncle gave me a Casio calculator watch for my first communion. It was almost spaceshiplike, but was it even useful? I don’t remember, but I was calculating everything on it. It’s a very traditional thing in France to receive gifts for your first communion, one of which will be a watch. Honestly, it’s the only gift I remember; it was very special.
The post Chanel Takes a Leading Role in Producing Ceramic Watches appeared first on New York Times.
