It was one of the best-kept secrets of the watch industry. Or maybe the jewellery industry. Possibly both. In fact, no one really knew. Chanel covered its tracks pretty thoroughly. It proved impossible to get to the bottom of what the Parisian couture house – which is also one of the most unpredictable French designers of Swiss watches – was up to. To add to the sense of mystery, the operation was given a cryptic name: Code Coco – which I think most people assumed was chosen as an enigmatic placeholder, pending the announcement of its real name.
But that turned out not to be the case. Code Coco was in fact the official name of... of what, exactly? A watch? A cuff? A bracelet? Code Coco is all of those things. It is Chanel, which means that labels are a matter of supreme indifference. It borrows from its own stylistic canon, breaking down barriers and smashing convention in the process. But we still have to find a way of describing it. Which is why we’re going to have to take a little detour into the field of semantics.
A little history
These days, generally speaking, watches are watches and bracelets are bracelets. Thanks to the often arcane logic of commerce, the former come under the mantle of the watch industry, the latter, jewellery. Silo marketing takes care of the rest: you’re either a watchmaker, or a jeweller, but rarely both.
At this point, the French language gives Chanel a helping hand: historically, the wristwatch (montre-bracelet) was a development of the pocket watch. Chanel’s concept has therefore returned the wristwatch to its semantic roots, an exercise it accomplishes with consummate ease, bearing in mind that Chanel is primarily neither a watchmaker nor a jeweller but a couturier.
A partnership, not a merger
Code Coco is the result of this reversion to the concept of bracelet-watch: not a synthesis of the two ideas but a juxtaposition. In Code Coco, the watch and the bracelet share the limelight, in a partnership of equals. Watch and bracelet coexist in a rare visual and technical harmony.
The design is essentially an item of jewellery for women: a steel bracelet with a criss-cross quilted motif, making it extremely flexible. The first marker of Chanel’s style is that, at first sight, Code Coco has no buckle or clasp. The bracelet presents an unbroken surface along its entire length, offering a satisfying geometric perfection. To fasten the Code Coco, it has to be doubled over on top of itself, so that the aperture at the end of the bracelet locks over the dial.
The clasp is in fact the central element of the Code Coco. So what is this clasp, and what’s it doing on the dial? To answer the first question, we have to delve into the brand archives. This particular clasp first appeared on the quilted bag 2.55, created by Mademoiselle Chanel in February 1955. The square divisions on the bracelet are an echo of the bag’s quilting, and the dial is an interpretation of its clasp. So, what does it do? It rotates 90 degrees. By pivoting around its own axis, the famous clasp defies convention, covering the time (when it’s vertical) or dividing the dial into two equal parts – one featuring a diamond, and the other the hours and minutes – when horizontal. Code Coco is available in two variations, with a plain or diamond-set bezel, both with a steel bracelet and black dial.
100% Chanel
Code Coco has pioneered a new creative pathway. It simultaneously explores the codes of watches, straps and bracelets, takes a sideswipe at jewellery, borrows from the secret watch canon and toys with its clasp as if it were a charm. Stunning, disruptive, cheeky – decide for yourself! It is nevertheless a quintessential Chanel design, the kind that takes the brand further along its creative path through the judicious reinterpretation of its own heritage. Code Coco is a considered, relevant, coherent and perfectly executed design. Bullseye.
