Exclusive: Science fiction, astrology and pin cushions are "the spirit" of Chanel's watchmaking, according to Arnaud Chastaingt

Arnaud Chastaingt is responsible for some of Chanel’s most recognisable timepieces: the Boy-Friend, Code Coco and Monsieur watches, to name a few. Since joining the French Maison in May of 2013, his inimitable eye for innovation has also guided every interpretation of the J12 and Première watches, and the Madmoiselle Privé creations celebrating the Métiers d'Art of Chanel.

Over the last two years, the lauded creative has unveiled themed ‘capsule’ collections, and for 2023 he brings us on a journey through time. “It’s the least you can expect from a watch designer, you could say,” he laughs.

Jokes aside, Chastaingt explains that the specific inspiration for the 2023 capsule Interstellar is what he calls the "landscapes of time." Be it the stars in the night sky – one of Gabrielle Chanel's sources of inspiration – or the images taken by the Hubble space telescope depicting scenes seemingly plucked from a Star Trek set, they are “staggeringly beautiful” according to Chastaingt. “Not to mention all our imaginary views and ideas of the future, especially seen through science fiction.”

Explorations of the universe – from spaceships to manned space stations; astronauts to robots – have created an aesthetic that Chastaingt has always found fascinating. As such, the Chanel Interstellar capsule draws on the dizzying possibilities of travel through time and space, and from the emotions and dreams awakened by observation and exploration.

As Chastaingt puts it, these landscapes “immediately conjure up the idea of space travel – and thus that of time travel.” He continues: “Journeys in reality or fantasy, like teleportation, with all the existential questions that come with it, but also those of dreams or the ones prompted by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge."

For Chastaingt, watchmaking is about “creating dreams by telling stories.” He explains how he approached the Interstellar capsule collection as though he was directing a movie: “I had the most incredible backdrop against which to invent the stories that I was going to entrust to my ‘actresses’.” In other words to the watches that he directs in new interpretations every year. “My muses are the J12, Première, Boy-Friend, Code Coco and Monsieur watches,” he continues. “They all have the ability to slip into new roles and to interpret them with all their originality and personality. They give me inspiration and they make it possible for me to invent new scenarios every year."

With the Interstellar capsule, Chastaingt has cast each watch in a new futuristic light with his invested scenarios. Take the J12 Interstellar, for example: the entire watch is enrobed in the deepest black, highlighting the dial, which Chastaingt “imagined as a view looking out into space and through a porthole.”

Devoid of numbers or hour markers, sparkling and accentuated by diamonds, this star-studded sky has a surprise in store when worn in the dark: “Super-LumiNova pigments emerge like new stars, as though on a journey venturing ever further into the universe, past unfamiliar landscapes and into unknown depths,” says Chastaingt. This sky is crossed by a shooting star that forms the counterweight of the second hand. “The watch evokes not only the unfathomable depths of the universe, but also the weightlessness of outer space,” Chastaingt explains. “Where everything gives the impression of being suspended. It is both a window into space and a metaphor for the passing of time.”

Then there is the Première Lucky Star which shares the same inspiration for the dial – calling on a star-studded night sky. Set on a velvet-soft black strap and trimmed with a row of diamonds, it is adorned with a small star in white gold set with diamonds, like a lucky celestial charm.

To continue the cinematic metaphor in which each Interstellar watch plays a part, “the Première is – if you'll excuse the pun – a star,” according to Chastaingt. Why? “Because without following all the principles of classic watchmaking, it possesses a combination of seductiveness, mystery and liberation that lends itself to all scenarios, such as this adventure in space,” says Chastaingt. “It even offers a ‘white nights’ version through the Première Hyper Lucky Star, fully paved in diamonds, including the bracelet.

The Science Fiction story is also carried on in the plot twist that is android newcomer Première Robot: “the case with its cut corners becomes its body, while the head echoes the profile of the N°5 perfume bottle cap,” explains Chastaingt. Diamonds form the droid’s elbows and eyes seemingly “bringing it to life” according to Chastaingt. “It demonstrates how the Première never takes itself too seriously and offers all kinds of interpretations, even the most playful.”

Celestial phenomena have also served as ample inspiration for the Interstellar capsule. The eclipse, for example, has been reimagined as a J12 box set recounting the gradual disappearance of one planet into the shadow of another. “For this, I have combined matte black and matte white ceramic in a sequence of seven watches,” notes Chastaingt, detailing the various stages: The first watch is in stark white, fully in the light. The second has a black strip running from the upper lug to the lower one, as though it is moving into the shadow. The third is crossed by a wider band of black, and so on up to the seventh, which is all black.

The duality of black and white is iconic for Chanel. “We always come back to black and white,” says Chastaingt quoting Gabrielle Chanel: “One cannot exist without the other, they make the perfect match.”

Take, for instance, the Mademoiselle J12 Cosmic – an interpretation in glossy black ceramic with the dial featuring the stylised silhouette of Mademoiselle in a black evening gown, keeping time, against the backdrop of a star-studded sky. Or the J12 Cosmic, which evokes Gabrielle Chanel's creative universe in glossy white ceramic. The dial is studded with diamonds and a multitude of stylised motifs, some reprising icons of the Maison, others evoking the universe.

Together they “form a fresco of the cosmos,” as Chastaingt describes it, against which a diamond comet rotates as the second hand, reproducing the comet designed by Gabrielle Chanel for her first jewellery collection in 1932. “I created this watch as a celestial microcosm, marrying poetry with science fiction,” says Chastaingt.

The Code Coco Cyber Gold, in Chastaingt mind, sported by a “space heroine, somewhere between Maria in Metropolis and Wonder Woman.” All while Chastaingt pushed the clarity of trendy sapphires to the limits in his Première X-ray watches. “ This graphic encounter between opposites may seem paradoxical, but the meeting of opposites is the very spirit of Chanel,” he explains.

Then there are the technological innovations. It would be “impossible not to include the tourbillon in a collection dedicated to the universe,” says Chastaingt. “Since its function is precisely to compensate for the effects on the movement of the earth's magnetic fields.” In the collection, the micro-mechanics of the tourbillon movement features in the J12 Diamond Tourbillon and the Monsieur Tourbillon Meteorite – which in fact does “contain a fragment of a real comet,” notes Chastaingt. Collected from Sweden, no less.

Fragments from the Swedish comet can also be found in the Lion Astroclock, the final piece in this Chanel Interstellar capsule collection. It offers an atypical display: the tip of a comet set with diamonds indicates the hours, while the minutes are marked by the Leo constellation.

The futuristic inspiration, resolutely of its time, are in “the spirit of Chanel” according to Chastaingt. As he explains: “I try to give expression to our times.” Be it through technical tour de force or a fascination with future (and indeed, time itself) Chastaingt’s latest collection heralds a new era all while caring for an inimitable heritage – evoking the spirit of Chanel as he goes.

Beyond the Interstellar capsule Chastaingt found inspiration in the French Maison’s Haute Couture Atelier, reimagining seamstresses pin-cushions as oversized dials – featuring motifs spanning diamond embroideries and a lacework of camellias – and reworking Mademoiselle Chanel’s Leo star sign into a line of hidden timepieces permeated by gilded lion motifs. “In the end, whether in haute couture or haute horlogerie, the magic is the same,” Chastaingt concludes.