Chanel introduced the Code Coco in 2017, a piece that sits between a watch and a bracelet. Its key feature is the clasp on its face, a copy of the rectangular turn-lock on the 2.55 bag that Gabrielle Chanel created in February 1955. Turned vertically, the clasp covers the hands; turned horizontally, it shows the whole dial, a modern version of the secret watch.
Instead of a folding clasp underneath, the supple steel bracelet curls around the wrist and fastens on top with a click, with the bezel at one end and the dial at the other. The bracelet is made of small squares that recall the house's quilted matelassé, the same motif used on its bags and ready-to-wear. The first models had a steel case of about 21.5 by 38.1 mm, a black lacquered dial set with a princess-cut diamond, a plain or diamond-set bezel (52 brilliant-cut diamonds) and a quartz movement. A high-jewellery 18-karat white gold version was set with several hundred diamonds.
Chanel now lists the collection in steel, black and matte black highly resistant ceramic, calfskin and gold. It sits in the watch line run by Arnaud Chastaingt, whose watch creation studio Chanel opened in 2013.