The jewelry watch collection Mademoisele Privé - two words found on Gabrielle Chanel's design-studio door, at rue Cambon in Paris - is a showcase for the symbols Coco Chanel dearly cherished and the element she loved to have around her.
Originally associated with masculine dress - 19th-century dandies wore camellias in their buttonholes - Coco Chanel laid claim to camellias for her feminine wardrobe. Today, produced in a wide range of materials and forms the camellia is one of Chanel's key symbols, which never ceases re-interpreting it through its watchmaking and fine jewellery collections.
Mademoiselle Privé Watch with Embroidered Camellia
For almost a century, the House of Lesage has been embroidering elaborate designs for all the top names in haute couture and fashion, and continues perpetuating its exceptional know-how. For the very first time in watchmaking, diamonds and fine pearls have been embroidered.
Fine pearls stitched with gold and silk threads, rose-cut diamonds, flakes of gold and gold seed-stitch form precious camellias on ink-black fabric.
The tour de force is found in how the thickness of the embroidery fits into the extremely thin 18K yellow gold watchcase and how the hands - also in gold - turn just above the raised seed-stitch. Each camellia is produced by hand and needle and so each dial is a unique piece.
The watch houses a high-precision quartz movement displaying the hours and minutes and is worn on a black satin bracelet whose 18K yellow gold ardillon buckle is set with 80 brilliant-cut diamonds.
