Major third
Chanel continues its winning streak with a new in-house calibre — the third in three years, writes jamie tan
AT BASELWORLD 2018, Chanel released the Boy.friend Skeleton Calibre 3, whose Calibre 3 movement is the latest it conceptualised, developed, and assembled in-house. This is the third consecutive Baselworld at which the luxury fashion house has introduced a new in-house calibre; Chanel has clearly settled into a rhythm for the development and release of its own movements.
In the new Calibre 3, the movement’s architecture revolves around an established arrangement of vertically arranged circular bridges. Mirrorpolished beige gold chamfering help accentuate the movement’s transparent beauty and depth of field while the beige gold Boy.friend case and its angular structure serve as a pleasant contrast to the movement’s rounded and black ADLC components. Viewed as a whole, the watch offers just the right touch of edginess, making it a welcomed alternative to the feminine timepieces that are available today.
It’s interesting that Chanel chose the Boy.friend to debut its third movement. Introduced in 2015 and a relatively new addition to the Chanel watch line-up since, the Boy.friend bears a striking resemblance to the Première, with both sporting elongated octagonal cases. It speaks a decidedly more masculine design language though; the collection’s very name is a nod to women who borrow and appropriate their boyfriends’ clothing and accessories. The result is a feminine look with an androgynous slant, which the Boy.friend collection captures perfectly.
The new Calibre 3 continues the precedent both Calibres 1 and 2 have set by being a ground-up development aimed at showcasing Chanel’s technical prowess. When Chanel launched its first in-house movement, Calibre 1, in 2016, it was an integrated time-only movement with a few twists — hours are indicated with a jumping digital display while minutes are shown on a large 240-degree sector as a retrograde display. Housed in the masculine Monsieur de Chanel watch, Calibre 1 was the opening salvo that declared Chanel’s intentions to develop its watchmaking capabilities.
The follow-up came a year later at Baselworld 2017, when Chanel unveiled the Première Camélia Skeleton driven by Calibre 2. Shaped like the bottle stop of its iconic Chanel No 5 perfume, Première was Chanel’s first wristwatch, hence the decision to pair it to the brand’s first women’s in-house calibre was fitting. With its rounded bridges arranged and stacked to form a camellia, Chanel demonstrated again its savoirfaire in movement design and development.
Calibre 3, the third successive launch that underscores its technical prowess, offers solid proof of the company’s watchmaking intentions and capabilities. With a dedicated team to handle movement development and assembly, and supported by a network of the industry’s best component suppliers (such as Romain Gauthier, in which the brand has invested since 2011), Chanel is well-poised to make great strides in the world of fine watchmaking.