“With Couture O’Clock, I wanted to open the doors to the Rue Cambon studios – a unique time and space governed by the rhythm of fashion collections,” he added. “I wanted to plunge into the intensely focused atmosphere … the patience and painstaking care demanded by haute couture.”

Inspired by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s Rue Cambon atelier and the tools of her seamstresses – including thimbles, scissors and safety pins – the collection’s jewel watches marry bold design elements with refined details and technical sophistication, elevating ordinary objects into jewellery. There’s also the Chanel Bust Long Necklace Couture watch and Long Necklaces Couture watch, remarkable fusions of timepiece and jewellery that can transform into watches to wear on the wrist, around the neck or even on the finger.

The limited edition J12 Couture Workshop Automaton Calibre 6, of which only 100 pieces are available, has a dial featuring a 20-second animation of a cartoon Coco Chanel brandishing a pair of scissors next to her couture mannequin – the brand’s first time envisioning moving decor on a watch. The bezel is enhanced by 48 baguette-cut diamonds, while the crown is set with a brilliant-cut diamond, the stones totalling around 3.34 carats.

The timepiece is equipped with the Calibre 6, a Chanel Manufacture manual-winding mechanical movement with automaton function. The new in-house movement – whose 355 components include 54 rubies – is responsible for the jaunty movements of Mademoiselle Chanel, activated at the touch of a button.

Separately, the maison has launched special editions of its J12 and Boyfriend watches in variations of pink, complemented by Chanel’s signature beige gold. Numbered and limited to just 12 pieces, the J12 X-Ray Pink Edition is all about pink sapphires and 18k beige gold.

The bezel is set with 46 baguette-cut pink sapphires, the dial is enhanced by 12 baguette-cut pink sapphires, the crown features a brilliant-cut pink sapphire, while two beige gold links within the pink sapphire crystal bracelet – a new colour of sapphire entirely – are set with 34 baguette-cut pink sapphires. Altogether, the watch’s pink sapphires number 93 and total around 8.28 carats. The Chanel Manufacture manual-winding mechanical movement, Calibre 3.1, has a timer bridge, plate and gear-train bridge in crystal sapphire. Sapphire crystal being incorporated into the entire watch – from watch case and bezel to bracelet – is a rarity, and its transparency even highlights the skeletonised movement in the dial.

As for the automaton Calibre 6 – the in-house movement that goes into the J12 Couture Workshop watch – Chastaingt described it as “a true technical tour de force put at the service of watchmaking performance”. The animated Mademoiselle Chanel and the details of the scene are something special as well. “Among bolts of tweed and camellia-print fabric, ribbons and spools of thread, the figure of mademoiselle dances, dressed in her legendary suit and holding a pair of scissors. Beside her, a couture dummy wearing a jacket rises and falls on its tripod.”

Turning to the four Pink Edition timepieces, Chastaingt explained, “At Chanel, pink is a colour in its own right – far removed from any childish or kawaii connotations – with its own individual character and authority, expressed in a multitude of shades.”

The watches range in hue from the palest pink to raspberry – and when it comes to the J12 X-Ray, Chastaingt said, “I chose to equip it with a bracelet and case in powder-pink sapphire, and to accentuate this by setting the bezel and hour markers with baguette-cut pink sapphires.”