Play, Story, Precision: A New Chapter for Creative Watch Designs
High-end watchmaking is in a playful mood. As traditional brands compete for attention in a crowded market, the most interesting newcomers and veterans are blending narrative, design theatre and genuine horological muscle. This new wave of creative watch designs isn’t just about wild dials or unusual cases; it’s about building miniature worlds on the wrist. The Chanel Coco Game watch collection turns the founder into a pixelated heroine, while BA111OD uses an in-house tourbillon to stake its technical claim. Parmigiani Fleurier, meanwhile, hides an entire chronograph within what appears to be a simple three-hand dress watch in the Tonda PF Chronographe. Together, these pieces show how modern watchmakers are pushing beyond traditional complications to create objects that speak to style-conscious buyers and story-driven collectors as much as to purists obsessed with movement specs.
Chanel Coco Game: When Haute Horlogerie Becomes a Chessboard
Chanel’s Coco Game collection turns the maison’s mythology into a literal game board. Director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio Arnaud Chastaingt taps the graphic codes of video gaming, transforming Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel into a pixelated character across 14 watches and objets d’art. The headline piece is a haute horlogerie chessboard, described by Chanel as the first of its kind, set with 9,236 brilliant-cut diamonds and framed by 516 diamonds around its black and white ceramic tiles. Each of the 32 pawns is a miniature sculpture in 18-karat white gold, ceramic and diamonds, with designs nodding to the brand: a Vendôme column rook, a lion king and Coco herself as the queen. Her pawn alone hides a quartz-powered watch dial under its pedestal, detachable and wearable as a necklace. It’s both a Chanel Coco Game watch and a jewel, collapsing game, jewellery and horology into one narrative object.
Coco as Heroine: From Pixelated Icons to Hidden Necklaces
Beyond the chessboard, Chanel doubles down on character-driven storytelling by turning Coco into wearable protagonists. The “Gabrielle” long necklace presents her in an iconic pose—legs crossed, hands in her lap—crafted in 18-karat white gold and adorned with 731 brilliant-cut diamonds and black-lacquered trim. She sits atop a pompon of 256 onyx beads that slides aside to reveal a discreet watch dial with a black-lacquered bezel, suspended from a chain set with a central 0.50-carat diamond, additional diamonds and onyx beads. Elsewhere in the Coco Game lineup, pixelated interpretations of Coco appear on long necklaces and wristwatches, fusing gaming aesthetics with high jewellery craftsmanship. This is luxury watchmaking as character design: the Chanel Coco Game watch universe turns the founder into a recurring avatar, inviting wearers to literally carry the brand’s story—whether on the wrist, around the neck, or perched on a diamond-studded chessboard.
BA111OD’s In-House Tourbillon: The Chapter 4 T.V.D. Statement
BA111OD is using the BA111OD tourbillon as a manifesto. By acquiring BCP Tourbillons, a long-time movement partner, the brand has brought tourbillon development in-house, transforming its technical standing. The first fruit is the Chapter 4 Tourbillon T.V.D., powered by BA111OD’s own chronometer-certified tourbillon movement. It’s engineered for real-world wear, boasting resistance to 2,000 gauss and shocks up to 5,000 G, an unusual blend of haute complication and robustness. Design-wise, the watch continues BA111OD’s established language, offered in both 39mm and 43mm cases in 904L stainless steel with a tantalum-grey DLC coating for a darker, technical edge. At 12.9mm thick including the crystal, it remains relatively svelte for a tourbillon. Polished surfaces, vertically satin-brushed case flanks and a recessed sandblasted mid-case create depth and contrast, underscoring that this isn’t just a technical flex, but a deliberate piece of contemporary watch design.
Parmigiani’s Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux: A Hidden Complication
The Tonda PF Chronographe Mystérieux is Parmigiani Fleurier’s answer to the extroverted chronograph: hide it in plain sight. At first glance, it reads as a pure, three-hand Tonda PF, with a mineral-blue dial and refined barleycorn guilloché. But beneath that calm surface lies a complete chronograph, extending the brand’s philosophy of “private luxury.” Like the earlier GMT Rattrapante and Minute Rattrapante, this watch keeps its complication invisible until summoned, avoiding dial clutter. The 40mm stainless-steel case with a coined platinum bezel carries Parmigiani’s signature sculpted lugs, where polished surfaces taper into bevels that frame brushed sides. At 13mm thick and 100-metre water-resistant, it balances elegance with practicality. For collectors, it’s a stealth complication; for design-focused buyers, it’s a study in restraint, proving the Tonda PF Chronographe can be both technically intriguing and visually serene—an ultra-modern take on a classic chronograph archetype.
