CHANEL Première Flying Tourbillon a Distinction in Design

25 years ago Chanel launched its first line of watches, and they have celebrated this milestone with the Limited Edition CHANEL Première Flying Tourbillon
Equipped with a flying tourbillon - one of the most complicated and highly regarded watch mechanism - the Limited Edition timepiece represents a new age of timepieces made for women.  In most watch companies, woman's timepieces are mostly powered by quartz. 
It is thought that men are more of a mechanical mind and thus can appreciate the intricate craftsmanship required to create a mechanical masterpiece.
 Chanel always on the forefront of woman's fashion is making a stand for mechanical movement in woman's watches by unveiling a timepiece of incredible watchmaking expertise.  The movement is that of highly regarded Audemars Piguet (Renaud et Papi)SA.  This is not the first contribution, Audemars Piguet has had with Chanel.  In 2008, Chanel partnered with AP to create the J12 caliber 3125, a fusion of AP 3120 an innovative automatic winding system and a Chanel J12 ceramic case.

The unique 37mm diameter case shape is fashioned after the cap of the Chanel N °5 perfume bottle, which is inspired by one of Coco Chanel's most favourite places - place Vendôme. The place Vendôme also inspired Chanel's Première watch unveiled in 1987.

 

  The glossy black ceramic dial surrounds a Camélia Flying Tourbillon at the 6 'o'clock position. Coco Chanel loved the Camélia flower for its elegant simplicity and purity.  She decorated her apartment in the motif of this flower on Coromandel screens and in vases with rock crystal. In Asia the flower symbolized purity and longevity, and thus she placed it on many of her designs.  The top of the flying tourbillon cage displays the flower in geometric simplicity.  The flying tourbillon is only supported on one side creating the illusion that it rotating,  unsupported by any means.  Click here to read an in depth tourbillon article. 

Chanel J12 Chromatic Ceramic Titanium Built Tough

Just by looking at the Chanel J12 Chromatic Ceramic Titanium watch, one can see this watch is crafted from some seriously sturdy stuff. The luster has a curious shimmer, the like of which I have never seen before. The name suggests some type of Ceramic Titanium blend - a suggestion of metallurgy advancements. Chanel spent hours of research and development, and finally came up with a material that was actually a titanium and diamond powder combined with a ceramic compound mixture achieving an intriguing metallic .
The watch is predominantly ceramic, an extremely hard and resilient material with high scratch resistance.
Rado is the company that first began experimenting with the hardiness of ceramic, for example one of the techniques they use is adding a layer of treated crushed diamond to the layer of ceramic thereby making the watch as hard as diamond. Ceramics, being tough an inexpensive, is now all the rage, and more watch companies such as Fossil and Michael Kors are utilizing this material more than ever. In addition many people who have metal allergies opt to use hypoallergenic ceramic instead.
Click here to read more about Rado and its vision.

The J12 Chromatic Ceramic Titanium encompasses 7 models catering to men and women including a smaller 33 mm model featuring a Quartz movement ; a 38 mm and 41 mm sporting automatic movements with round or baguette-cut diamonds.

Chanel designer, Karl Lagerfield, and his view on luxury in tough times.

Watch manufacturers keep unveiling divinely luxurious luxury watch, some dripping in diamonds, others made from cutting-edge materials and still others displaying complications that require years of intense craftsmanship. So what of the recession? It is true we are in the grips of a recession it was confirmed just the other day. Companies are handing out the pink slip, closing new endeavors and generally cutting back, but it was Karl Lagerfield, Chanel creative director that summed the recession and luxury items quite well.

In an interview with the BBC ,in regard to selling his $2000 handbags in an economic downturn, Karl Lagerfield sounded quite cheery,

The economic downturn was needed, he says, it had gone too far. "I see it like a cleaning up - it was too rotten anyway - so it had to be cleaned up...I see it like a healthy thing - horrible but healthy, like some miracle treatment of the world."

On responding to the BBC reporter who claimed that "luxury was not the real world and what was being sold were dreams".

"What is the real world?" he asks. "If you have no dreams, or if you don't try to improve real life of everybody, people would ask why they get up in the morning.

"You have to have a drive. My drive is the work I do.

"People have different kinds of dreams. After all, people need a handbag, there are cheaper handbags. But if you can buy a beautiful one and if that's your dream to buy, why not?"

Why are people who could never afford a handbag are so interested in your handbag?

"I can be interested in a $20m diamond I will never buy, without desiring the diamond. If you want only things you can afford, it's boring too."

Karl continued his 19 rings clinking as he spoke.

"It's great to see things you may not buy - because you don't have the money - but it is very ugly to think they shouldn't exist because you can not buy them."

"People want to see something they may not be, but they should or could become," he says. The same as those handbags that cost thousands of dollars, then: dreams. "

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I will conclude with some watches that dreams are made of, and maybe one day this watch will become your reality.


Girard-Perregaux Opera One Three Bridges Westminster Minute Repeater Tourbillon Men's Watch 1
Chopard's Ladies Diamond Quattro Tourbillon Watch - A Tourbillon rotating beneath rows and rows of diamonds, this watch seems to be a dream within a dream. At 500,000 Dollars it carries quite a price tag, but although we may not be able to buy it, we still can feast our eyes on its glittering splendor. 450 diamonds, baguette and pave cuts. Within the 42mm wide 18k white or rose gold case is the L.U.C. 4T manufacture made tourbillon movement. The movement is manually wound. The "Quatro" refers to four barrels within the movement with a total power reserve of 216 hours. Furthermore the Chopard L.U.C 4T is one of the only chronometer COSC certified tourbillon movement available.
Chopard utilizes the classic Happy Diamond Sport Watch case design. The gold Chopard cursive "C" signature creates the tourbillon bridge and within its gracful curves are the blued hands of the hours and minutes. The seconds are displayed by way of the tourbillon cage. The power reserve is elegantly discrete at the 12 'o' clock position of the dial with a solitude ruby placed at the empty position. The Chopard Ladies Diamond Tourbillon is a limited edition of just 50 pieces: 25 white gold and 25 rose gold.