Latest news with #J12Bleu
The National
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Chanel celebrates 25th anniversary of J12 watch with new marvel carved from lab-grown sapphire
'I dreamt of giving a colour to black, of illuminating it with blue,' says Arnaud Chastaingt, director of the Chanel Watch Creation Studio. 'I wanted a blue that possesses a rigorous elegance – a blue that is nearly black, or a black that is almost blue.' To celebrate the 25th anniversary of its bestselling ceramic watch, Chanel unveiled a striking new piece that delivers on Chastaingt's dream: the J12 Bleu. In a matte shade of midnight, the Bleu is the result of five years of meticulous development – a process that reflects not only Chanel's obsession with colour, but also its quiet mastery of modern horology. Blue, of course, is fundamental to Chanel's visual language – a nod to Gabrielle Chanel 's love of maritime style. Yet, developing a tone that satisfied the house's exacting standards was no small feat, with Chastaingt describing its discovery as 'an epiphany'. More than half a century after her death, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel remains fashion's consummate rule-breaker, having established codes that still feel fresh today. From the little black dress to the tweed suit, she placed comfort alongside elegance. Her two-tone shoes, quilted handbags and ropes of pearls remain cornerstones of style. Even Chanel No 5 – launched in 1921 – still dominates global fragrance sales, a testament to its revolutionary formula. Chanel's styles were later distilled and reinterpreted by Karl Lagerfeld, who gave them new life across decades of creative direction. Alongside him, Jacques Helleu – artistic director for Chanel's jewellery, watches, beauty and fragrance – pushed these same codes into a new realm: timekeeping. In 1987, he unveiled Chanel's first watch, the Premiere, with a case shaped like the No 5 stopper and a bracelet threaded with leather like the brand's iconic bags. A decade later, Helleu began sketching a unisex sports watch – a daring move for a house so focused on women. The result was the J12. Crafted from high-tech ceramic, it was lightweight, scratch-resistant and quietly radical. Launched in 1999 in a sleek black finish, the J12 felt like a new language for Chanel – clean, powerful and androgynous. Its name came from the J-class racing yachts of the America's Cup, while its 38 millimetre profile and bold silhouette signalled a shift towards genderless, fashion-forward watchmaking. In 2002, a 41mm chronograph was added, followed by an all-white quartz version in 2003, expanding the range while maintaining its sleek identity. Then came the innovation. In 2005, Chanel introduced the 41mm Superleggera Chronograph, blending black ceramic and anodised aluminium for a watch that was 20 per cent lighter. In 2008, Chanel collaborated with Audemars Piguet on the H2918, a 42mm model in black ceramic with yellow gold accents. That same year, Chanel released the J12 Noir Intense, set with 724 baguette-cut black ceramic stones in white gold, a feat that took more than 200 hours to complete and was limited to only five pieces. In 2010, the brand turned to respected independent watchmakers Renaud et Papi for the Retrograde Mysterieuse. At 47mm and made of white gold and ceramic, it included a retrograde display, tourbillon and retractable crown. The following year, Chanel unveiled the Chromatic in titanium ceramic, while 2013 brought the Moonphase model, with its aventurine moon disc and poetic complication. By 2014, Chanel pushed further into haute horlogerie with the Comeete Flying Tourbillon and the J12 G10, the latter nodding to military watch straps but rendered in titanium and alligator leather. The 20th anniversary in 2020 was marked by the diamond-set J12 X-Ray, which was cut almost entirely from transparent sapphire crystal – even the bracelet was hewn, link by link, from raw sapphire. The 2023 J12 Eclipse box set added a new layer of conceptual brilliance. Comprising seven watches arranged to mirror the phases of a solar eclipse, the collection played with black and white ceramic in configurations that felt as much like sculpture as watchmaking. Only one set was made – and was quickly snapped up by a private collector. Now, in 2025, the J12 marks its silver jubilee with the J12 Bleu X-Ray. A study in transparency and light, the watch is hewn from a single block of lab-grown sapphire – a process that takes more than 1,600 hours. It features 196 baguette-cut blue sapphires encircling the bezel and bracelet, with an additional 12 as hour markers. Inside, a floating movement is suspended on clear sapphire bridges, adding a near-mystical quality to its precision engineering. Of course, none of this would be possible without the technical infrastructure behind the design. In 1993, Chanel acquired G&F Chatelain, a watchmaking facility located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, placing artisanal expertise at the heart of the operation. Strategic investments in brands such as Bell & Ross, Romain Gauthier, F P Journe and MB&F have only deepened that horological credibility. As Chastaingt puts it, ceramic – once viewed as niche – has become precious. 'In the course of 25 years, Chanel has elevated ceramic to the level of a precious material,' he says. 'It is an inspiring material that offers a vast creative playing field.' The new J12 Bleu is both tribute and evolution – a continuation of a legacy and a testament to Chanel's instinct for defying convention. It's not only a watch. It's Chanel's past, present and future, rendered in sapphire blue.
New York Times
07-04-2025
- Business
- New York Times
For These Watches, Blue Is Their Color
Chanel is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its J12 watch this year with what it has described as a major technical feat: the debut of a proprietary ceramic color that took five years to develop. A deep midnight blue that borders on black and shifts shades depending on the light, the J12 Bleu, as Chanel calls it, goes beyond the color restrictions of the past. Chanel, however, is not alone in this new territory. Panerai, Audemars Piguet and Zenith also have spent years creating new blue ceramic hues. The appeal of blue in watch design is hardly new — blue dials that were printed or even painted by hand have been popular for centuries. As the Pantone Color Institute noted when it named Classic Blue its color of the year in 2020, blue conveys 'calm, confidence and connection.' Yet the ability to create completely blue cases and bracelets is a relatively recent advance that began with colored PVD (physical vapor deposition) coatings on stainless steel. Later, colored technical ceramic was developed — but the first blue tone, used by the likes of Richard Mille, IWC, Omega and Hublot, was a bold cobalt, the only pigment then on the market. Arnaud Chastaingt, the director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio in Paris, said that while Chanel is known for its black and white color schemes, he was inspired by some dark blue evening gowns he had seen in an exhibition years ago, and by the blue of some jewelry boxes the house used in 1932 for a special Bijoux de Diamants collection. 'They proposed many colors of blue to me before I saw the one I loved and immediately knew it was the perfect blue for Chanel,' he said. 'It's a blue close to black, or a black close to blue, depending on how you see it.' While the quest to develop color variations may be driven by stylistic or aesthetic demands, working with ceramic presents operational challenges. Engineering ceramic is created out of inorganic, nonmetallic powders, most commonly zirconium oxide. When the powders are mixed with bonding agents to set the material, the colors change, making it hard to create a specific color. Experts say that maintaining the material's signature qualities such as its scratch resistance, hypoallergenic properties and lightweight feel while also perfecting a new color is tricky. Success requires extensive research and development, cutting-edge production methods and time-consuming rounds of trial and error. 'A Long Process' 'When I decided to create a special blue for Chanel, I worked with our ceramic team to understand the complexity,' Mr. Chastaingt said. 'You can't just add color to white ceramic or give color to black — you have to discover a blend of color and properties. I understood it was going to be a long process.' Chanel's original J12 was released in 2000 in black ceramic and then in 2003 in white. A subsequent plan to expand the brand's expertise in the material led to the eventual creation of an in-house ceramics division. Having developed its own injection molding process over the years. Chanel now makes its own case and bracelet components from proprietary ceramic powder formulas and compressed cylinders of zirconium oxide powder. The J12 Bleu collection — introduced at the Watches and Wonders Geneva fair this month — includes nine iterations. The J12 Bleu 38MM Sapphires watch, for example, created in a 100-piece limited edition, boasts a bezel set with 46 baguette-cut sapphires and dial markers of 12 baguette-cut sapphires. (155,000 euros; the U.S. dollar price is still undetermined). Chanel said it would take a year to produce the J12 X-Ray Bleu, which is machined from sapphire crystal and accented with matching blue sapphires (€1.2 million). Deep Sea Hues Panerai spent nearly three years perfecting the blue of its ceramic, a matte color that has no official name. But unlike Chanel, it does not have its own in-house ceramic department, so it had to turn to an outside supplier, which it declined to identify. The result was the 300-piece 40-millimeter Luminor Quaranta BiTempo Ceramica, which was quietly shown to retailers at Watches and Wonders Geneva this month and is expected to be available for sale in late summer or early fall. (€16,300; $16,000 in the United States) 'The first blue they showed me was too bright, too electric,' said Jean-Marc Pontroué, Panerai's former chief executive of 25 years who recently left the company. 'Panerai is really a very much black-on-black-on-black brand.' The brand began making watches for the Royal Italian Navy in 1916. Thanks to those marine origins, Mr. Pontroué 'wanted a blue that borders on black, a subtle evolution,' he said. 'It is a way to offer choice to our customers without being flashy.' The color development process involved many exchanges between Panerai and its zirconium oxide supplier. 'There is no Pantone color to pick because the making of the powder into the finished watch involves binders and chemicals that can change the initial color,' said Jérôme Cavadini, Panerai's chief operating officer. He identified a range of acceptable blues to provide some margin for error, but multiple prototypes were made, he said, before the supplier achieved a hue that Mr. Pontroué thought appropriate. 'You always have some surprises when you are making ceramic because of the process,' Mr. Cavadini said, noting that 'each attempt requires a lot of patience.' The Night Skies The night sky has been a fount of inspiration to brands branching out into blue. In early April, Audemars Piguet unveiled three deep-blue ceramic options in its Royal Oak line. These Bleu Nuit, Nuage 50 models take their color cue from the hue from 1972 that the designer Gerald Genta selected for the first Royal Oak watch dial — a shade itself inspired by the inky evening darkness of the Vallée de Joux, the forested Swiss location of the brand's workshop. Zenith also looked to the heavens for Zenith Blue, a ceramic color it created to fete its 160th anniversary this year. 'We wanted to look to the starry sky for a kind of blue that reflects the stars, the zenith, but also were inspired by our archives,' said Benoit de Clerck, the brand's chief executive. 'We found a lot of blue dials from our past and wanted to push that to the next level.' The project, overseen by Romain Marietta, the brand's chief product officer, involved working closely with the powder supplier, case manufacturer and bracelet maker. It took a long time to create and replicate the exact shade of bright blue they wanted, he said. 'Any variation could be a nightmare during assembly of, for instance, the bracelet and its many parts, and then for the case and bracelet to match.' He noted that inconsistencies could occur as late as during the finishing process: 'When the parts come out of the mold, they have to be microblasted to achieve the satin finish, and all of the angles are made by hand. So there can be color variation even at that stage.' The development process, Mr. Marietta said, took about a year, with additional time needed to perfect the finishings and polishings. The brand introduced the new color at Watches and Wonders Geneva, saying that three models would be rolled out this year, each as a 160-piece limited edition. They are: the 41-millimeter Pilot Big Date Flyback Edition 160 Years ($15,500), set to debut in April; the 42-millimeter Defy Skyline Chronograph Edition 160 Years ($23,800), to arrive in June; and the 41-millimeter Chronomaster Sport Edition 160 Years, scheduled in September. Was it cost-effective to pour so much research and development effort into just 480 watches? 'Our customers expect innovation from us,' Mr. de Clerck said, ' and we have to deliver.'
