Chanel Introduces Calibre 2 With The ‘Première Camélia Skeleton’
Just one year after the launch of Monsieur de Chanel equipped with Chanel’s first in-house movement Calibre 1, the high luxury brand introduces its second in-house movement Calibre 2 — a skeleton movement in the shape of a camelia – beating inside the superb new ‘Première Camélia Skeleton’ presented at Baselworld 2017.
Octagonal-shaped like the Chanel N° 5 bottle stopper and Place Vendôme that inspired it, ‘Première’ – Chanel’s first watch collection made exclusively for ladies — is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Chanel pays tribute to the thirty years and to founder Gabrielle Chanel by creating an in-house movement in the shape of her favourite flower – the camelia.
Chanel made the first step towards in-house production when it acquired Manufacture G&F Châtelain in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland in 1993, where all new projects initiated by the Studio of Creation at Place Vendôme in Paris are developed, controlled and assembled.
This is not ‘Première’s’ first encounter with a high watchmaking movement. In 2012, Chanel joined forces with Swiss master watchmakers Renaud et Papi to create the ‘Première Camélia Flying Tourbillon’, a process renewed in 2015 with the stunning ‘Première Flying Tourbillon Openwork’ presented at Baselworld. It was the brand’s first skeletonized timepiece for ladies.
But with the ‘Première Camélia Skeleton’, Chanel boasts its own Calibre 2, a manual-winding mechanical skeleton movement depicting a three-dimensional camelia flower, with the form of the bridges, centered and stacked, inspired by the petals of the flower. With functions of hours and minutes, Calibre 2 features include an anti-shock system on the balance, variable inertia balance, and a power reserve of 48 hours. Fine watchmaking finishes include ADLC (Amorphous Diamond Like Carbon) black endings and rhodium-plated finishes.
The Première Camélia Skeleton comes in 3 versions, each in a 28.5 x 37 mm 18K white-gold case: a fully set diamond version including 246 brilliant-cut diamonds on the Camelia skeleton and an 18K gold bracelet also fully diamond-set, for a total diamond weight of 22.66 carats, in a limited edition of 12 pieces;
a numbered edition, diamond-set, including 246 diamonds on the Camelia skeleton, with a black satin strap and 18K gold double folding buckle set with 30 diamonds, for a total weight of 7.82 carats;
and a numbered edition with diamond-set case, bezel, crown and 18K gold folding strap buckle, plus 17 brilliant-cut diamonds on the hands, for a total of 5.53 carats.
These exceptional timepieces will be in stores from June 2017. Prices available on request.
