SJX Watches
Chanel’s Chessboard is a Modern Métiers d’Art Masterpiece
Chanel christened its watch collection for the year “Coco Game”, a theme that informs the pixellated video game motifs found on some watches and also the flagship creation that is the endgame as such things go. The Chessboard is self descriptive, but it is much more than an 8×8 board with 32 chess pieces. A one-off creation that is already sold, the Chessboard is impressive by the numbers alone: 1.5 kg of gold, 110 carats of diamonds, and a retail price of over US$4 million. But where is the watch you might ask? There are two: each of the queens is actually a pendant watch with a tiny dial on its base, and the set is delivered with a single chain for the winner to wear a pendant watch. The queen takes the form of Coco Chanel dressed in the brand’s signature tweed suit Initial thoughts I’ve always been a fan of Chanel’s impossibly extravagant objet d’art, which in past years have ranged from a musical automaton clock to a planetarium-clock. This year’s one-off creation trumps them all in scale, complexity, decoration, and of course price. In tangible terms, the Chessboard is clearly a trophy for the home or office, or a game board for a wealthy chess fan. Ridiculously lavish board games and toys have a long history — jewellers like Faberge and Cartier made such items in times past. In fact, some of Faberge’s fabled Imperial Easter Eggs contained surprises that were actually tiny toys. The Chessboard, however, is distinctively 21st century in both material...
