Chanel Mademoiselle Privé

Opening the doors to the intimate world of Gabrielle Chanel, the new jewelry watch collection, MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ, is a showcase for the symbols Mademoiselle dearly cherished and the element she loved to have around her.

MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ, two words found on her design-studio door, at rue Cambon in Paris. Gabrielle Chanel was attached to a poetic language, and the MADEMOISELLE PRIVÉ collection offers unique interpretations in combinations of Métiers d'Art watchmaking techniques and High Jewelry.
 
In the hands of the most talented artist-craftsmen, enamellers, engravers and setters, this collection writes a brand new page in the creative story of CHANEL and becomes a field of expression for excellence in know-how.
 
Camellia
Originally associated with masculine dress, 19th-century dandies wore them in their buttonholes, Mademoiselle Chanel laid claim to camellias for her feminine wardrobe. Today, produced in a wide range of materials and forms the camellia is one of the key symbols of the House of CHANEL, which never ceases re-interpreting it through its watchmaking and fine jewellery collections. Pure, without perfume or thorns and an evergreen that flowers in winter, the camellia became Mademoiselle Chanel’s favourite flower. It can be found on entering her apartment at 31, rue Cambon on the Coromandel screens, in the central chandelier and in a rock-crystal bouquet.
 

 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 watchcase and how the hands turn just above the raised seed-stitch. The small dial surface, 37.5 mm in diameter, requires all the embroiderer’s exactitude and precision and each camellia produced by hand and needle reveals all her freedom and dexterity. Each dial is an exceptional and unique piece.
 
To pay homage to this masterwork, CHANEL has removed the crown and achieved a perfectly round watchcase.
 

 Production steps:
1. Design drawing: the outline of the embroidery is reproduced on tracing paper.
2. "Piquetage”: The design’s outline is perforated.
3. Transfer: With talc, the design is transferred on to the fabric through the perforations.
4. Embroidery: Using pearls, gold flakes, diamonds, silk and gold threads the embroiderer starts work on the design.