The French luxury brand, Chanel, has been in the watch game since 1987, but have never actually made a watch specifically for men. Until now, that is. It took five years to develop the mechanical design (which explains why we had to wait this long) and each component, from the screws to the wheels, were all specially designed and made by Chanel’s creative team.

The watch dubbed Monsieur de Chanel, features a complex and architectural design in matte and glossy tones of black with a contrasting transparent back cover. Chanel’s international watch director Nicolas Beau says “it’s like a watch with two faces”, and he couldn’t be more correct.

It also features a retrograde minute indicator, which means the minute hand jumps to zero at the start of every hour. As well as a jumping hour, which echoes the brand’s iconic perfume names and handbag styles, by displaying the hour as a numeral.
Chanel plan on only releasing a total of 300—150 in beige gold and 150 in white gold—so if you’re keen on the timeless stylings of this timepiece, you’d better start saving your dollars now and keep an eye out for a release date.

• Words: Mikaela Ortolan