chanel premiere ceramic watch

While the majority of watches we cover on bestbuycheap.ru are for men, we like to discuss quality women’s watches from time to time – the Chanel Premiere being one of them. Being mostly guys, we tend to write about what we ourselves would wear. We, nevertheless, have a lot of demand for more women’s content, and I personally think it is important to discuss iconic and novel timepieces for women. Let’s not forget that women, not men, are buying most of today’s watches. So allow me, as a guy, to tell you what I like about the Premiere collection…

At Baselworld 2013 I found myself considering the newest version of the Chanel Premiere, the most attractive ladies watch we saw, when considered as a whole. That took into consideration design, utility, pedigree, story, and price. There are loads of lovely timepieces for women, but something about the Premiere felt good for this year. Having said that, it is important to mention that the Premiere is not a new watch. Chanel has designed a new bracelet for the timepiece this year, but the Premiere collection originally debuted in 1987. Its genesis involves a generous helping of luxury romance as only the French can imagine. The story of the Premiere watch began in Paris at the Place Vendome, now a center of luxury shopping and among the more interesting high-end hangouts in town. Chanel, also based in Paris, used the physical shape of the Place Vendome as a key shape in its brand. Looked at from a bird’s eye view, the Place Vendome also happened to be the shape of a baguette-cut precious stone. Taken alone, you already have a mixture of the romance of Paris the city as well as the allure of luxury. Chanel used this iconic shape for the cap on the bottle of its famous Chanel No. 5 perfume. Though, this design element was introduced long after Chanel No. 5 as a fragrance was originally released in 1921.

In 1987, the Place Vendome bottle cap homage design became the basis of the Premiere watch in terms of the shape of the case. The concept was meant to illicit images of not only Chanel as a brand, but also Paris itself – and it worked very well. The Premiere became less important as a watch about a decade ago when Chanel released the J12 collection. The round ceramic J12 watches dominated the chanel premiere ceramic watch brand so much that most people forgot they made anything else. More importantly, the J12 helped usher in the era of the ceramic watch (even though it was Rado who really started the ceramic watch material revolution). Chanel never stopped making the Premiere as I understand it, but now there will be more of an emphasis on the classic design.

The amazing thing about the Place Vendome is that it even looks to be lined with stones. Versions of the Premiere watch come with diamonds on the bezel, and they still look like the actual Parisian location. The wonderful thing about the place is that it is relatively empty, and the minimalist dial of the timepiece faithfully represents that. Movado’s Museum Dial watch is the proof incarnate that a watch dial with only hands and one marker to help orient it can appear very beautiful. This is exactly what Chanel did with the Premiere as the angularity of the case is contrasted with two rounded hands on a blank dial – only oriented with the Chanel logo. Legibility does suffer, but the design is gorgeous.

French fashion is imbued with deeper meaning, and you can see how Chanel has certainly accomplished that with the Premiere by incorporating elements of the brand’s history and Parisian character into an otherwise good looking watch. Building on the original, there are more options than ever in the collection. Today the Premiere is available with a glossy black lacquered dial or a white mother-of-pearl dial. This latter option is newer, but a welcome addition to the collection’s personality. There are also two different case sizes.Chanel produces the Premiere in a 16mm wide by 22mm tall case, as well as a larger 20mm wide by 28mm tall case. The design is meant to appear dainty, but it isn’t fashionable nowadays for a watch case to completely disappear on one’s wrist, so the larger option is appropriate for many women. The case is offered in both 18k yellow gold and steel, as well as with or without a diamond-decorated bezel. What is new for 2013 is the chain-style bracelet.

The chain bracelet is really what takes the Premiere to another level in my opinion. The watch on a satin strap is too formal, and the other bracelet options are nice, but perhaps not as contemporary as the chain-link bracelet. Something about it mixes urban style with chic sophistication in a very satisfying way. Chanel actually captures the timepiece’s versatility in their promotional video quite well. The message being that the Premiere is a watch that looks good on many different styles of women, and with many different types of outfits. I tend to agree. Few watches for women offer this type of versatility. Some of them include the Cartier Tank and Rolex Datejust (for women), as well as this Chanel.