Golden time – Style – Kommersant

After an annual major overhaul, the Chanel jewelry and watch boutique was opened on Place Vendôme. There is even more gold and modern art in the interiors, and new products in the shop windows. Home – Premiere Edition Originale, a re-release of the house’s iconic watch.

Chanel received its Vendôme registration in 1997. As the jewelry and watch department gained momentum inside the house, so did the boutique. Today it occupies three floors (jewelry, watches, museum items, led by the main pride of the house – necklace No. 5 with a 55.55 carat diamond) and looks like an exemplary Parisian hotel particulier. A sort of house mademoiselle Chanel, she live in our time. The interiors were made by the ubiquitous American Peter Marino. This is his second renovation in the Vendôme boutique, the first one happened in 2007. The architect told the French press that he got into the fashion house straight from the house of the owners of Chanel – he designed the interiors for one of the Wertheimer brothers. Marino’s hand is recognizable both by expensive finishing materials (bronze, marble, a lot of gold in combination with Chanel codes – tweed underfoot, Goossens crystals in lamps), and by the abundance of modern art and collectible design. On the first floor, guests are greeted by a bronze three-meter “Pillar” by the Belgian Johan Kreten, echoing Napoleon’s Vendôme column. A steel sculpture by the American Joel Morrison is located near the stairs, it is called “Coco Candlestick”, it looks like a Gorgon Medusa, there are piercings in the lips, two crossed “C”. From behind the window winks deer Lalannov. In the salon on the second floor there is a seating area from the picture: an armchair from the fashion duo Voukenas Petrides (gold, of course), a coffee table by Reda Amalu, a gray “Composition” by Nikolai Vladimirovich Stael von Holstein, aka Nicolas de Stael, looks from the wall.

As you know, the jewelry tradition in Chanel was founded by Gabrielle Chanel herself. In 1932, she launched the Bijoux des diamants, the only high jewelery collection in her lifetime. But Chanel did not have watches during her lifetime. She herself, they say, did not wear them, except that sometimes she borrowed them from her men. The first watch appeared only in 1987 at the initiative of Jacques Helle, the patriarch of the house – “the eyes of Chanel”, as he was called. They were called – Chanel Premiere. It is impossible to confuse them with the watches of another house, they immediately declared: we are Chanel. The chain bracelet was taken from the bag, the dial repeats the shape of the lid of the famous perfume bottle No. 5 – black, strict, without marks (the lid itself, it is believed, repeats the outlines of Place Vendôme). “Chanel time,” the ad read. It was shot by Guy Bourdain, the text in the press release was written on behalf of the watch by Françoise Sagan – a real ode, and the face of Premiere was Ines de la Fressange, the embodiment of elegance for all time.

For 35 years, Chanel Premiere in whatever versions were produced: they were chasing trends, originality, value. Now in vogue return to basics. The Premiere Edition Originale repeats the first model: a 2620 mm yellow gold PVD-coated steel case, the same chain bracelet with an interwoven black leather band, a black lacquered dial, an onyx cabochon in a winding crown. If you delve into the technical details, you can find out that the galvanic coating, which provides protection against friction and wear, has been replaced by a more modern coating using PVD technology. Two hands, quartz movement.

Maria Sidelnikova