The J12 is the watch that paved the way for fashion-brand respectability in the stuffy world of watchmaking, spawning countless copycats and pioneering new ceramic technologies in the process

By Alex Doak

The enduring success of the J12 has probably taken Chanel itself by surprise ? especially since watch aficionados started defying received Swiss wisdom and conceding that here, finally, was a fashion watch with genuine horological integrity, paving the way for Louis Vuitton, Dior et al and to launch their own ?proper? watch collections. The innovative use of ceramic (only Rado had mastered this material beforehand) to echo that Chanel-handbag leitmotif of quilted, glossy monochrome was inspired, and when it launched in 2000, the cutting-edge ceramic technology required for the J12?s case alone demanded a purpose-built facility in the cradle of La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Unlike the licensed-out, entry-level wristcandy of yesteryear, the J12 contained Swiss movements, both quartz and automatic ETAs, as well as the odd high-end adventure, such as the J12 Calibre 3125 of 2008 ? driven by Audemars Piguet?s calibre of the same name ? and the quite extraordinary J12 Rétrograde Mystérieuse flying tourbillon of 2010, courtesy of Audemars Piguet?s Renaud et Papi thinktank, with a crown that rose smoothly from the dial rather than the caseband.
The late, great Jaques Helleu originally conceived the J12 as a unisex watch, naming it with deliberate androgyny after his favourite yacht...