It’s Leo season, when the sun is at its highest and the mood is boldly declarative. In astrology, it is a time for confidence, charisma, and a touch of drama. In the case of Gabrielle Chanel, born on 19 August, the connection was more personal than celestial.
The lion, her astrological sign, became a personal emblem of strength. It prowled through her Rue Cambon apartment in marble, bronze, and stone, and later found its way onto her tailored jacket buttons. In 2013, the motif was formalised in Sous le Signe du Lion, a high jewellery collection devoted to the creature she considered her talisman.
Once again, Chanel turns to the lion this August with a collection that shows the majestic beast at home in the world of watchmaking. “The lion is an integral part of Mademoiselle’s inner world,” says Arnaud Chastaingt, Director of Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio.
“Today, the lion’s majestic depiction radiates across all of the maison’s creations, claiming its place among the timeless codes passed on by the designer. It is an inspiring symbol whose authority and elegance I admire,” he adds.
The new Lion of Mademoiselle collection showcases Chanel’s sculptural craftsmanship with five jewellery watches and two high-watchmaking pieces. An art form like metal sculpture requires more than technical precision; it also requires an intuitive sense of proportion and expression.
The centrepiece is the Diamonds Astroclock, which features a sculpted lion carved from white gold and paved with more than 5,000 diamonds, pawing protectively over an obsidian orb. Inside a glass sphere, the Astroclock mechanism tracks the hours with a comet circling a rotating planet, while a Leo constellation marks the minutes.
A second white gold sphere, shimmering with brilliant-cut diamonds, turns to show the clock’s movement. From diamond selection to snow setting, the piece took eight months to complete. With an eight-day power reserve, it is powered by a self-winding movement made by Chanel’s manufacture.
Elsewhere, time conceals its secrets. Three baroque-style sautoirs hide their dials behind layers of diamonds and symbolism. Chanel’s lifelong fascination with talismans is evident in the Amulet Watch, which hangs from a gold and diamond chain with a pendant featuring a lion perched on onyx and rock crystal. There is a diamond-set dial on one side and a 1.5-ct diamond on the other.
Two other necklaces offer time based on a need-to-know basis, namely the Medallion Watch and the Double Lion Buttons Necklace Watch. In the latter, a lion’s head swivels open to reveal the dial, while another hides a small frame for a photograph, discreetly tucked away.
The collection also includes two cocktail-influenced secret watches, reminiscent of the opulence of the 1920s. With the Toi et Moi Ring Watch, two lions frame a dial set with baguette-cut diamonds. Inspired by caryatids, the twin lions recall the pair of lions adorning Gabrielle Chanel’s apartment. In the other ring, a diamond-studded lion’s head reveals the time when lightly pushed.
For those more intrigued by watchmaking’s technical wizardry, the Monsieur Platinum Lion Tourbillon, equipped with Chanel’s calibre 5, includes a rotating tourbillon crowned with a laser-engraved titanium lion’s head. It appears to hang in midair as if watching over each passing second.
