Chanel Boy-friend watch
Few brands are as synonymous with eternal style as Chanel. While primarily a fashion and haute couture house, dressing Hollywood starlets and the lucky few; the iconic Parisian brand has also made some strides, in recent years, in the horological space.
Two years ago they introduced their first serious men's watch that I believe any watch lover would easily consider for their collection. And this belief is independent of whether the watch would be a gift from their wife or girlfriend, or one they would acquire themselves.
The Monsieur watch has all the pieces to sing to the hearts of mechanical watch aficionados: serious movement, cool complications, and charming looks. Standing at a very wearable 40 mm and 10 mm high, when I first tried the Monsieur watch I liked how easily it fit on my wrist while the gold case made its presence felt. It reminded me of a Lange watch but with a symmetrical layout and a certain French je ne sais quoi.
Of course, I've only spent a few minutes with the watch and thus have no idea how well it performs or even how comfortable it is wearing at a party. However, what I can say immediately, is that the dial is super easy to read with the jumping hour at 6 o'clock and retrograde minutes and central small seconds subdial. A layout I had hardly seen elsewhere and that I appreciated from the moment I saw it.
But what makes the Monsieur watch one that connoisseurs would have a hard time not liking is when you flip over the case and take a peak at that gorgeous movement. Manufactured in-house by Chanel, the Calibre 1 movement is done in an austere darken gun metal-like finish proudly showing the wheels and jewels.
The sad part about the Monsieur watch is it's $35,000 (and up) entry price point and limited production. Perhaps it's the watch the rich boyfriend can be gifted or self-gift if she's trying to acquire her equally expensive crocodile Chanel bag or haute couture gown?
Either way this is a good looking watch and for 2018 Chanel introduced a few more variations with grand feu enamel and lion motifs, but I had limited access and my pictures don't do them justice, so see them online here.
Finally, at this Baselworld, Chanel showed me something more fun but equally fashionable and it was not part of their famous J12 line. The Boy-friend watch in varying colored alligator straps of beautiful pastel colors.
Stylish and expertly proportioned for ladies' wrist, the Boy-friend watch comes in a variety of black or beige gold dials in white gold or rosé gold and with or without diamond encrusted bezel.
I don't consider myself an expert in ladies watches but I can appreciate how well these Boy-friend watches looked on a lady's slender wrist. Perfect to accompany her Chanel fashion accessories or outfits. A watch that effortlessly matches the Chanel style and ethos.
While not my first choice for haute horlogerie, I appreciated all the Chanel watches I could see at Baselworld. They were all refined, stylish, sophisticated, and also fun. More reasons for me to visit the local Chanel boutique for the next up coming birthday of that special someone.
One of the winners in the 2019 GPHG awards in the first week of November was a two year old upstart watch brand from Kuala Lumpur named MING Watches. The young brand won best watch in the Challenge category at the Geneva show to the delight of its founder and watch aficionados who have regularly helped sell out the brand’s 11 prior releases since its debut of the 17.01 watch.
MING watches are not limited per we but are produced in small batches of a few hundreds, which in effect make them limited. A quick perusal to their web site shows that all models, except for the two new 2019 models have sold out. Interestingly the new models are also priced much higher than the previous ones. However, before getting ahead of ourselves, how does one go about seeing or trying on a MING watch?