Don’t wait for Chanel menswear when you can wear a Chanel watch
At the 2025 Watches & Wonders trade show in Geneva, the Parisian couture house turned two of its beloved men's watches blue
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NEWLY APPOINTED CHANEL artistic director Matthieu Blazy (who’s coming from Bottega Veneta) won’t be making his debut until the spring/summer 2026 presentations in October. And, with the new blood, a rumoured dedicated menswear line won’t be seen for perhaps another few years. (The latter remains wishful thinking.) If you did want to get your hands on some new Chanel, though, the Parisian house just unveiled some new timepieces at Watches & Wonders in Geneva.
If you have a partner who’s a fan of their J12 model – Chanel’s popular full-body ceramic watch – consider couple matching with their new Bleu (French for ‘blue’) edition in a full blue ceramic. The model was a bit of a revolution in horology circles and for the house when the classic black ceramic was released in 2000.
“In the course of 25 years, Chanel has elevated ceramic to the level of a precious material” says Arnaud Chastaingt, director of Chanel’s watchmaking creation studio, in a statement. “The art of ceramic is undeniably Chanel watchmaking and our outstanding savoir-faire: it is an inspiring material that, thanks to the genius of our engineers, offers a vast creative playing field.”
It took Chastaingt and his studio five years to develop the distinct hue (if you’re a frequent wearer of their Bleu de Chanel fragrance, the shade is of the bottle’s deep ocean likeness). Hour markers feature baguette-cut sapphires to illuminate the time on the 38mm dial (33mm is also available), sourced also in the same hue as the ceramic. And if you did fancy a dip with the watch, it’s created for depths of up to 200m water resistance.
Taking it one step further, another new Chanel watch is in truly limited edition territory. Limited to 55 in existence is the Diamond Tourbillon edition, its title feature magnified with a 65-facet solitaire diamond set in the centre of its cage. Not without cause, the stone was house founder Gabrielle Chanel’s favourite. The diamond illuminates the openwork dial, along with the 34 baguette-cut sapphires set along the watch’s bezel. Due to the higher volume of stones and openwork construction, the tourbillon edition avails 50m water resistance.
The house also revisited another of its beloved men’s watches for their menswear niche. The sleek sports watch Monsieur Superleggera carries the same bleu spirit in the case, bezel, dial and breathable strap. Materiality was important to bringing a Chanel watch into the sports realm. But the dial this time gets more literal, which recalls the set up of a race car’s speedometer fitted in the Calibre One design with instant jumping hours and retrograde minutes at 240 degrees. Limited at 100 pieces, this one’s made for the Chanel and F1 fans. A small niche, indeed, in a watch that bridges to luxuries.
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