As luck would have it: How Chanel’s hallmarks play out in the Coco Game collection

While a sprinkling of myth and mystery might add a certain je ne sais quoi to many a high-end brand’s backstory, for the House of Chanel that sense of enigma comes in plentiful supply. Some might say it plays a vital role in the Maison’s ongoing allure: renowned and revered even outside fashion and watchmaking circles, the Chanel story has always leaned heavily on mystique. It’s a heady combination when taken alongside Gabrielle Chanel’s obscure and humble origins, the ease with which she mixed with power and nobility and the impeccable sense of style and innovation that set her apart from her peers – and continues to, even to this day.

As Chanel has grown from its couture beginnings and matured into an horological powerhouse, its symbols – what makes Chanel, Chanel – have in turn crept, ever stronger, into the House’s watchmaking collections. The latest example? The Coco Game capsule, while ostensibly about games of luck and chance – another recurring theme throughout Chanel’s collections – is a tantalising smorgasbord of Maison favourites. Here, WorldTempus walks through the symbolism of Chanel, and how Coco Game makes the most of this rich tapestry.

The Queen Herself: Gabrielle Watch & Gabrielle Necklace

Before the advent of the modern-day influencer, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel was the arbiter of taste for multiple generations of women. Endlessly quoted and copied, her style was revolutionary and for good reason: her comfortable and hard-wearing fabrics, cut in practical, wearable and thrillingly daring styles, gave women the freedom to enjoy fashion rather than being restricted by it. It’s no coincidence that a number of Chanel ‘classics’ – tweed and sailor trousers included – were directly influenced by men’s fashion, with Coco repurposing their bare bones and elevating them to powerful symbols of emancipation. In the Coco Game collection, this burning beacon of taste appears incarnate in both the Gabrielle Watch and Gabrielle Long Necklace. Sporting a classic Chanel tweed suit, string of pearls and a jaunty boater hat – Coco began her career as a milliner – she’s elegance personified.

The No. 5 Octagon: Première Coco Game 

Drawing its shape from the form of legendary Parisian high jewellery hotbed Place Vendôme, the plaza over which Coco Chanel’s Ritz suite looked, the elongated octagon passed into history as the inspiration for the Chanel No. 5 bottle’s top. As enduring a design as the perfume itself, this generously-proportioned crystal eventually gave its shape to the Chanel Première watch – and the Coco Game version is a pleasingly graphic twist on the style. White lacquer charms dangle from black-coated steel to spell out CHANEL in block letters – interrupted only by the sapphire crystal Première watch that also hangs from a chain bracelet interlaced with white calfskin leather, echoing another Maison stalwart style. Subtle, it is not. But beautiful, desirable and a whole lot of fun to wear? Oh absolutely. 

Diamond Quilting: Code Coco Game

Ever inspired by the outdoor pursuits favoured by European nobility – in large part thanks to her decade-long love affair with Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, the 2nd Duke of Westminster – Gabrielle Chanel’s sense of style incorporated all manner of practical countryside touches, elevating them to couture status. Chief among them was the introduction of quilting to add form and structure to her collections in the 1920s (a timeline that coincides with the commencement of her relationship with the Duke of Westminster). Inspired by stable boys’ attire and jockeys’ riding jackets, diamond-stitched quilting appeared in 1955 in the form of the Chanel Flap Bag, and is yet to fall out of favour. And it’s the Code Coco Game bangle watch that carries this icon into horological history – inspired by dominoes to follow the game-playing theme, the white quilted calfskin leather bracelet contrasts with the black lacquered dials, one set with a princess-cut diamond. 

Black and White: Boy·Friend Coco Game

Who would have thought that couture in its most luxurious and elevated expression would have been so influenced by an austere abbey orphanage upbringing? But that’s the ironic situation that became reality as Gabrielle Chanel applied the simplicity and graphic power of her childhood’s black-wool-and-white-linen uniform to her burgeoning fashion empire. Stripping back the pastel colours and frou-frou of the Belle Epoque, her ‘Little Black Dress’ changed the way we view elegance and femininity forever, while her insistence on transforming black from a colour reserved for mourning to an expression of sheer sophistication was truly revolutionary – and endures to this day. And for contrast? The purity of white, whether in leather piping, strings of pearls or Mademoiselle’s ever-present signature camellia flower continues to throw this panache into sharp relief. The Boy·Friend Coco Game, with its razor-chic black-coated steel and white diamond bezel, on a white calfskin strap edged in black patent leather trim, brings these threads together in one knowing nod to Chanel’s beloved monochrome. And at the centre of it all? Coco herself, a jaunty Queen of Hearts, in white tweed, black piping and strings of pearls. Sometimes, life truly is just black and white.

The Spirit of Innovation: J12 X-Ray Coco Game

In an era when women were largely – and legally – restricted, Gabrielle Chanel emerged as an innovator and rulebreaker, in both style and social senses. The use of jersey fabric – previously reserved solely for men’s underwear – for women’s day-to-day dresses and suits was a statement of liberty for a gender previously condemned to restrictive and uncomfortable ensembles. The advent of the Bijoux de Diamants collection in 1932, conceived to stimulate the diamond industry in the face of the Great Depression, was the first high jewellery launch as we’d recognise it today. And 1921’s Chanel No. 5, the first perfume named after a designer, broke all manner of industry norms and revolutionised how scents were marketed. Continuing in this vein, the introduction of the Chanel J12 in 2000 proved a step forward in watchmaking, pioneering the use of ceramic as a luxury horological standard which allowed the Maison’s bold black and white aesthetic to shine. Reimagined in diamond, sapphire and black-coated white gold for the Coco Game collection, this modern classic sparkles in its own right.

The Homage to Heritage: The Chessboard 

As mysterious as the Maison’s founder, this pièce unique was sold before the opening of this year’s Watches and Wonders Geneva, so curious viewers had to make do with peering at a smoked-glass replica in the Chanel booth – but its images remain as a testament to an incredible work of design and craftsmanship that says so much about a House and its history. Kings are represented by lions, Coco’s lucky animal. The Bishops? Couture busts, alongside her beloved horses representing the Knights. Vendôme columns give us a sense of place as the rooks. And there, at the centre of it all, the Queens are Mademoiselle herself – able to be lifted from the board and worn as a hidden watch necklace, the dial found beneath the piece’s pedestal. All wrought in gold ceramic and diamonds, atop a black obsidian and ceramic chessboard, this truly is a piece for the ages. Well played, Chanel. Well played indeed.