The J12 was the brand’s first icon of the 21s century (All photos: Chanel)
The 10th edition of the Only Watch auction, which raises funds to tackle Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), will be held on May 10 in Geneva, Switzerland, and Chanel, which has been a part of the event since 2009, is offering a pair of Mademoiselle J12 La Pausa watches.
Designed by Arnaud Chastaing, director of its Creative Watchmaking Studio, the J12 was the brand’s first icon of the 21s century. It was inspired by a photograph of Mademoiselle Chanel taken in 1930 in her vacation-home garden at La Pausa, south of France.
The watch, in high-resistance black and white ceramic, shows her in silhouette, wearing a Breton jersey and button-front pants. The image is printed on a sapphire crystal plate and attached to the dial.
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A black or white ceramic bracelet with triple-folding steel buckle completes the timepiece, which is equipped with the self-winding Calibre 12.1 movement, visible through a sapphire crystal caseback inscribed with “Pièce unique. Only Watch 2023. Mademoiselle J12”.
Only Watch, the biennial charity auction of luxury timepieces, has granted half of the US$100 million it has raised to date to research on DMD, the most common hereditary neuromuscular disease, which leads to progressive muscle fibre degeneration and weakness.
This article first appeared on Apr 29, 2024 in The Edge Malaysia.
