Talking in Code
Chanel has turned to its archives for the Code Coco watch
Chanel is certainly no stranger to the world of watches, having found itself on a steady roll in recent years, with the realms of haute couture and haute horlogerie becoming intertwined time and time again. Coinciding with Paris Fashion Week, we saw the launch of its latest creation, the Code Coco, available with or without a diamond- set bezel. It’s apparent to any fashion aficionado that inspiration is explicitly drawn from Chanel’s illustrious past.
The unique quilted motif on the stainless steel bracelet leads us straight back to the fashion house’s iconic Chanel 2.55 leather handbag. Its celebrated diamond quilting pattern was reportedly inspired by the stained glass in Aubazine Abbey in Corrèze. Other stories claim it was due to the brand’s proclivity for equestrian touches in its collections and was based instead on the jackets of jockeys and stable boys.
When it comes to a monochromatic palette, nobody does it better than Chanel. In fact, it was Coco herself who famously said “women think of all colours except the absence of colour. I have said that black has it all. White too. Their beauty is absolute. It is the perfect
harmony.” Complimentary, albeit bold contrasts paired with graphic lines sum up the purity and restraint of her design; an ethos still celebrated by the fashion house today.
Harkening back to the concealed watches of the last century, the Code Coco brings this bygone concept firmly into the 21st century. Historically, ladies wore these timepieces as a way of checking the time discreetly, so as not to offend the company they kept at that moment. Codes of practice have of course altered, and it’s no longer a crime to look at your watch. But a sense of female empowerment still radiates through this timepiece – a concept surely dear to Coco Chanel’s heart, whose very own story originated in an orphanage and ended with one of the most iconic fashion houses and impressive businesswomen of the 20th century.
A step away from its recent mechanical fare, Chanel’s Code Coco features a high- precision quartz movement and is unapologetically a jewellery watch. Code Coco goes on more like a supple bracelet than a watch, wrapping around the wrist before being secured at the case with a clasp mechanism that gives an ever- so rewarding click when turned. Once turned, the hours and minutes display is visible on the bottom portion of a sleek, black- lacquered dial measuring 38.1 x 21.5mm, with a single diamond on the top.
Coco Chanel’s collections have always straddled the line between femininity and masculinity. As such, the Code Coco was designed to match as perfectly with a delicate tweed blazer and 2.55 handbag as with a black tuxedo. Take a cue from the matriarch herself, who was always marching to the beat of her own drum. “The most courageous act is still to think
for yourself. Aloud.”