The Monsieur wristwatch is endowed with Calibre 1, the first Chanel’s in-house movement
When it was launched in 2016, the Monsieur received glowing reviews. For one, it featured a unique combination of retrograde minute and jumping hour. For another, the manual-winding movement, visible on the caseback, was a beauty, constructed to reflect Chanel’s famously chic aesthetic.
Designed, developed and assembled entirely at its manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland, it boasted wheels created to Chanel’s specifications by independent watchmaker Romain Gauthier, whose business the French maison has secretly bought a stake in to bolster its manufacturing capability.
Venturing into hitherto unexplored territory – men’s luxury, not counting the fragrances – created plenty of buzz for Chanel, which launched its first watch in 1987 with the Premiere. Today, the Monsieur is one of the pillars of Chanel’s haute horlogerie, the sole but proud masculine representative in a family of feminine timepieces that includes the groundbreaking J12 ceramic watches and, most recently, the Boy.Friend that blurs gender boundaries.
Also read: The seduction of Chanel's feminine watches
Adding two new - and totally unexpected - time instruments to the Monsieur range only makes it more desirable