Is the Chanel Monsieur Superleggera the Ultimate High End Sleeper?

Chanel is a brand that’s somehow under the radar, while also being enormous. Known primarily for fragrances and fashion, Chanel doesn’t have as strong a foothold in the watch enthusiast community, despite a concerted effort on their part to join the club, along with considerable financial investment. There’s probably a much longer article to be written about the why behind that, but needless to say, as a brand mostly associated with luxury products outside the realm of watches, they don’t often spring to mind in the general watch discourse. That’s a shame, because regardless of what preconceived notions you have of Chanel as a brand, there are some interesting watches being made under their umbrella with design and horology that are worth discussing. The newest Chanel watch, the Chanel Monsieur Superleggera, is a prime example. Is it a fashion watch? Sure, technically I suppose it is. But it has a movement, a complication, and an overall aesthetic that fly in the face of that often pejorative term. 

As the name of the watch would imply, the Monsieur is aimed squarely at men. The line was introduced in 2016, and from the beginning felt like an attempt to go straight at the upmarket, haute horlogerie customer. The Monsieur has mostly existed in precious metals since its debut, but has also been seen in ceramic (a signature of what is arguably Chanel’s most well known watch, the J12). The Monsieur’s big trick, though, and the one that should generate interest among high end collectors and fans of independent watchmaking, is the movement, designed in part by none other than Romain Gauthier. Gauthier’s Logical One series of watches is the stuff of indy watchmaking legend, and is best known for its always visible constant force mechanism on the dial side, designed in the style of a traditional fusee and chain. The Monsieur isn’t quite as complicated, but it does feature a retrograde minutes display and jumping hour complication, resulting in a pleasing, symmetrical, and just slightly out of the ordinary (for a fashion watch) dial layout. On the backside, the Calibre 1 movement is on display, with its circular gear train highlighted via black anthracite finishing that matches the case. 

We should pause here and talk about the Chanel is a watchmaker, and also their relationship with Romain Gauthier, because this is the stuff that watch nerds obsess over, and might make the Monsieur either more or less interesting, depending on your point of view, and general taste for high end watches. Chanel, of course, is a big time luxury brand. They want to sell you jewelry, fragrances, and clothing, and a lot of it is quite expensive. Like a lot of other luxury brands (Montblanc comes immediately to mind), they saw an opening in watches a number of years ago, and began investing. The Kenissi movements found in Tudor and Norqain watches? They’re powering the J12 watches, too (Chanel has a 20% stake in the company). Similarly, Chanel owns a stake in Gauthier’s brand, so when they tout that the Calibre 1 is made “in house,” we should take it to mean that it’s at least partially made in Gauthier’s house, and perhaps with some Kenissi plumbing (all, to be sure, with specifications set forth by Chanel themselves). We’re likely not meant to know exactly how much of one is incorporated into the other, tangled as the relationships between these brands can be, but it remains endlessly fascinating to observe just how intertwined these companies are once you begin to zoom out. A “Six Degrees of Separation” game could easily be a multi-part future podcast.  

The Superleggera measures 42mm in diameter and combines ceramic and steel for a sporty and yet still completely refined look that is core to Chanel and the Monsieur. As you might expect, there’s a bit more going on here than meets the eye. The case construction is actually surprisingly complex, with a mid case made from black ceramic, and the bezel and caseback in steel. Most of the watch’s visible components from the dial side are black coated (the crown, also in steel, is left untreated) which certainly leaves a different impression than prior iterations of the Monsieur, which tend to be rather clean and classic. The dial of the Superleggera has one toe in the ultra modern indie world (that partially skeletonized dial) and another in something entirely more traditional, with a guilloche pattern applied to the dial’s two largest sections. Red accents would seem to further underscore the idea that this is Chanel’s Monsieur in full sports watch mode, or at least as full as it’s likely to get. 

The retail price on the Monsieur Superleggera is $39,400, which is certainly on the (very) high side for a watch with nary a precious metal, and from a house not specifically known for its watchmaking. But the watch is objectively good looking, at least if you’re at all drawn to the sleek and sporty side, and there’s something incredibly appealing about its status as a high end sleeper. You have to be pretty deep in the hobby to have an idea about how special this movement is, and if you check the prices on Gauthier branded watches as of late, you can even make a case for this as a value proposition. Chanel