At its roots Chaumet is a House that is very Parisian, and the founder and his successors have all been people that have come from jewelry workshops – high jewelry or the heads of workshops.
There is a long history of Chaumet watches collaborating with famous watchmakers – the first watch signed “Chaumet”, with a movement by Breguet, dates from 1811, around 10 years ago Chaumet collaborated with François-Paul Journe and more recently with Marc Alfieri. “We don’t develop movements, that is not our métier,” says Giraud. “We are more involved with aesthetics, design, elegance, more in the French tradition of working with our own in-house ateliers.”
Not surprisingly, Chaumet perpetuates this inimitable savoir-faire as a Parisian jeweler – 200 years of creation – by inscribing the firm’s core values in a contemporary context. The style of Chaumet is very much “sentimental”. That is, in creating pieces that are pleasing to the eye but also signifies something sentimental, something personal and often hidden from view – and often, given their very “Frenchness”, something connected with love.
Typical of their flair for creating hidden emotion behind the pieces they produce is Chaumet’s Dandy Collection – an evening watch range reminiscent of the man who goes out on the town to hit the high spots in his tuxedo. Dandyism is, according to Beaudelaire, “An institution beyond the laws, that has its own laws,” and this watch collection fulfills all those “own” laws.
This watch collection, with cushion-shaped cases, curved taut lines, and generally a black tone-on-tone dial, carries a myriad of details reminiscent of the 20s. The range is very elegant and very evening-wear and includes those evening “essentials” such as a pocket watch and a fob watch – as Beau Brumell said, “ True elegance is understatement.”
Chaumet’s Only Watch 09 is a unique piece – never to be repeated – and world preview of the range that this watch heads, which is the latest in Chaumet’s Dandy range called “Arty” and is very much in the dandy style with all the aesthetic attention to detail that Chaumet is noted for.
The 40 mm Only Watch unique piece 1/1 Dandy Arty edition is in rose gold and has the Dandy tuxedo stripes across the dial and the case. The dial is black and is positioned so that the crown fits comfortably in the strap. The movement is a mechanical automatic jumping hours movement with hours indicated in an aperture at 9 o’clock, minutes indicated in the large dial, and seconds in a separate sub-dial. The solid rose gold case shows two different finishes: mat at the top and polished on the sides. The black leather lined bracelet is black patent leather with a satin band – the same way as men’s evening dress shoes.
“I love the idea to be able to read the time in this way,” says Giraud. “It is so much easier and with 12 o’clock being in line with the wristband it also makes it easier to view the time.”
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