The Chanel J12 reference H2129 is a rare model produced as collaboration with Audemars Piguet. Still on my ceramic watch kick I thought it necessary to mention the young spawn of what happens when a designer meets a watch manufacture. I don’t know if it was love at first sight, or how much courtship was involved, but the result was the best of both world. The Chanel J12 is a wildly popular watch design from everyone’s famous favorite French design house Chanel. While not the first ceramic watch, Rados have been around much longer, Chanel showed the world that a ceramic watch could take a very classic look and construct it a non-metallic shiny black compound. Audemars Piguet on the other hand needs little introduction to most. Still a family owned company, but by no means small, they produced almost 28,000 luxury watches last year.

Frankly speaking, Audemars Piguet does not need Chanel to enhance to look of their line, as they make some of the more beautiful watches available. Chanel probably benefits more from this relationship as it solidifies their status as a seller of serious watches. The watch model is simply named, “Chanel by Audemars Piguet.” Nothing fancy about the name, and to be honest, aside from the Audemars Piguet movement inside, little has changed about the J12 design. The most notable addition is the switch from steel to gold for the trim. Gold and black mix together very well and the effect is dramatic. This watch is seriously handsome. The brushed gold finish is not overly glitzy providing a subtle elegance.

An interesting quirk about the watch exists on the bezel which instead of displaying the common “60” at the top displays “0.” The effect is of course the same, but it is an interesting departure from the norm. Now what is this love child going to cost? Well the good news is that it is a “limited production” watch, and not merely a “limited edition.” Which means it is going to be continually made, just in sparse numbers. And if you can get your hands on a H2129, it is about $28,000 depending on the exchange rate with the Euro. A beautiful marriage of style and refinement, with a world-class movement, the Chanel by Audemars Piguet will find a happy home no matter which parent is chooses to live with. www.chanel.com

See Chanel watches on eBay here.

See Audemars Piguet Watches on eBay here.

See ceramic watches on eBay here.

See Chanel watches on Amazon here. See Ceramic watches on Amazon here. [phpbay]chanel j12 | audemars piguet, num, “14324”, “”[/phpbay]