Boundary-breaking Chanel watch is tweaked for a new generati

(Image credit: Josh David Payne)

Chanel’s first venture into watchmaking more than three decades ago marked a timely new direction for the fashion house. Its ‘Boy.Friend Skeleton’ watch – first introduced in 2015 and recently rethought to appeal to both women and men of a new generation – builds on its illustrious history, intertwining the threads of couture and technical accomplishment, and imbuing the brand’s timeless archive with horological expertise.

Gabrielle Chanel was fascinated with traditionally male embellishments and she often assimilated them into her clothing, breathing seductive new life into tweed and jersey. The ‘Boy.Friend Skeleton’ also plays with established design codes, translating a typically masculine case architecture into a chic watch for women.

Instead of the conventional softened silhouettes, a distinctive octagonal shape looks back to the brand’s first foray into watchmaking, redrawing the lines of its 1987 ‘Première’ watch, which itself was originally inspired by the angles of the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle stopper. Nodding to the original, it puts the hypnotic, vertically-aligned circles of the in-house black-coated mechanical movement at its heart, juxtaposing its curving form against a sharp edging of baguette-cut diamonds.

INFORMATION

This article originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Wallpaper* (W*263)

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Hannah Silver is a writer and editor with over 20 years of experience in journalism, spanning national newspapers and independent magazines. Currently Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*, she has overseen offbeat art trends and conducted in-depth profiles for print and digital, as well as writing and commissioning extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury since joining in 2019.

With contributions from

Josh David Payne - Photography