Loris Cecchini Re-Imagines Chaumet’s Class One Watch

“The idea for the watch was inspired by fluid time and reflects my work perfectly–it’s monochromatic and has the waves in two directions,” said the 45-year-old artist. “I chose to make a watch and not jewelry because I have a passion for technology and the watch is a time-machine and an architecture for the body.”

From the first drawings through to the final product, the project took a year. The watch was unveiled in March at Chaumet’s store on the Place Vendôme, the epicenter of high jewelry in Paris. Cecchini made a temporary Wallwave vibration mural installation and a suspended sculpture, Waterbones, formed from joining organically-shaped steel modules, for the launch.

Prior to this collaboration, Cecchini had made one-off pieces for Dior, Chanel, and Fendi, such as Stage evidence (2010), a white Dior handbag sinking into a white puddle, for the Lady Dior As Seen By exhibition at Milan’s Triennale Museum. The collaboration with Chaumet is the first to have resulted in a limited edition product. “I’m always trying to find a way for me to learn something else,” Cecchini muses.