Chaustaingt, who in his time at Chanel was a key part of the maison receiving the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award on six occasions and launched icons such as the Boy∙Friend and Code Coco Watch, is a man of obsessions too. And in watchmaking he has found a place to realise them.

“[Chanel is] the opportunity to make all my obsessions, my dreams. Chanel gives you that freedom. Of course it’s a responsibility, when a brand like Chanel gives you this liberty,” he says.

One obsession that pointedly stands out among this year’s launches is a seamstress’ indispensable tool of the trade – the pin cushion. Indeed, Gabrielle Chanel could be found in her ateliers on rue Cambon with a pin cushion on her wrist, and a pair of scissors worn on a ribbon around her neck as a sautoir.

In a feat of haute horology, Chaustaingt has reimagined the pin cushion in five iterations of the Mademoiselle Privé Pique-Aiguilles watch. Each oversized piece reflects elements of the métiers d’art of Chanel couture, the five tableaux featuring such things as a lacework of camellias and a jacket seen at the pattern stage.

“I had first this obsession of this graphic impact on the wrists,” says Chaustaingt of the watches’ impressive 55mm dial.

“But I was obsessed when I went into the workshop in rue Cambon to see this woman or this man who were working in the workshop and they had this amazing signature jewel, this amazing round on the wrist. I was surprised to see that every morning before they started their job, the seamstresses put each of the needles on the cushion. And so you have the artisan where they made the needles very straight, and others will make a diamond set and it was interesting because you can feel the personality of the artisan. You see this kind of jewel, but it’s a tool too,” he says.

Carson Chan, chief adviser to the Fondation de la Haute Horology, and previously general manager of Richard Mille Asia, and Asia managing director and head of watches at Bonhams auction house, believes the Mademoiselle Privé Pique-Aiguilles is important to Chanel in underlining its commitment to horology.

“I think Chanel is a serious watchmaker, while many people think it’s ‘just’ a fashion brand. I think it’s a fashion brand having a very serious watch division,” he says.

“If you have the knowledge to look deep into their collection, you understand that they have a lot of unique and also amazing skills in the watch industry. I think they are one of the heavy, heavy players.”

Chan cites the Monsieur watch, which he notes received Chanel’s first in-house calibre in 2018, as a favourite among the brand’s collections.

Chastaingt also found it interesting that the Monsieur was the first Chanel watch to be fitted with an in-house calibre, designed in the Chanel Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the heart of Swiss watchmaking.

“When we developed this calibre, I was obsessed about the fact that this first calibre will be for men. And I remember people were saying to me, ‘Are you sure? For men? Chanel, the most famous feminine brand in the world?’ And I said, ‘Yes. I’m sure about that’. For the reason that for Gabrielle Chanel, masculine codes were so important, in her style, in the style she created. And she was very inspired by her lovers, her friends, and a lot of men inspired her style. I mean, for the jacket, for the bag. I found it funny, that with all these masculine codes she made a famous feminine brand, you know, all the paradoxes. I found it interesting to make a tribute to this with the first calibre [created],” he says.

In any case, Chastaingt is not afraid of a challenge. Indeed, he says the watchmaking studio thrives on them. This year’s new launches also include X-ray editions – skeletonised versions of the J12 and Première watches – the maison’s first in-house flying tourbillon (which took three years’ work on the movement alone) on the J12 Diamond Tourbillon and the J12 X-ray Star, which required more than 1,600 hours of machining and is set with 196 baguette-cut diamonds on the bezel, dial and bracelet, highlighting Chanel’s savoir faire in gem-setting.

“[The workshop and manufacture] knows that challenge is in the DNA. The thing that I found interesting with them is that they know all the classical codes of the watch world, but they work for Chanel because they know that they will have a challenge, a challenge to develop something maybe not classical,” he says.

Ultimately for Chastaingt, beyond the exceptional feats of horology, it is design and the stories that he finds most fascinating – from Gabrielle Chanel, he says, there is an endless source of them.

“In my creations I love to have stories. It’s very interesting to play with my icons in my collection. I say ‘my muse’ or ‘my actress’ every year. I have all these actresses in my collection and I try to dress them as a different character, a different style, a different scenario,” he says.

Often this begins with Gabrielle Chanel who, as Chastaingt notes, always played with her style, and different modes of allure.

“I always start with a story, more than sketches – the sketches arrive after. I think of a woman first and for Chanel, about a style,” he says.