PASSION PROJECT
Chanel’s president of watches and fine jewellery, Frédéric Grangié, waxes lyrical about the brand’s watchmaking prowess
How do you strike a balance between design and technical innovation?
It’s not really a matter of balance for us. It’s a rule that we’ll not compromise on the design. The technique and art of watchmaking are truly to serve the design and creation. So I wouldn’t say that there’s a balance. Or if there’s a balance, it’s very imbalanced. [Laughs] And I like to keep it that way. We’re different, and we want to remain true to who we are.
Out of Chanel’s entire stable of watches now, is there one that you are most satisfied with?
One is the J12 watches because I think that it’s extraordinary when a house—particularly one that’s so young when it comes to watchmaking—has an absolute icon in its portfolio. And there are very, very few true icons in watchmaking. I also personally love the Calibre 3 because I think it’s an evolution of Chanel’s in-house watchmaking, which we started with the Calibre 1. Yes, it’s a technically complicated watch, but it’s also incredibly pure in its aesthetic. “Less is more” is always the hardest thing to achieve, and I think we accomplished it with the Calibre 3, so I personally love it.
Is there segmentation between the more designoriented pieces such as the Code Coco, and the serious watchmaking pieces?
The Code Coco is more of a mechanical jewel than a serious watch, but it serves a purpose: it expresses Chanel’s key design codes. We’re lucky that we have that freedom in terms of creation. Now, at the same time, it doesn’t mean that the Code Coco, particularly the new black ceramic version, is technically easy to produce. Frankly, in terms of the construction of the bracelet, this is an absolutely incredible achievement. It was almost impossible to create because it was extremely difficult to get that level of fluidity with ceramic, but we managed to do it. The fact that it’s not a complicated mechanical timepiece doesn’t mean that we didn’t put the greatest effort into making it the most beautiful watch possible.
What do you think are the areas in which Chanel has room to grow in the watch industry?
Our priority is going to remain with the J12, which is of course an absolute icon. It’s extremely important to us. You will see new creations, we will continue to work on these different pillars in our collection. You know, in 2017, it was the 30th anniversary of Chanel’s watchmaking, but we didn’t celebrate it. Most people would say “oh for 30 years, you should have a limited edition of the Première to commemorate it”. We did the opposite, and introduced the new Code Coco, because our way to celebrate is to say we’ll do something new that hasn’t been done in the market.