Chanel’s idea of a chess game is the most extravagant you’ll ever experience

 While chess is, by nature, a game of logic and restraint, Chanel’s Coco Game chessboard set turns that premise on its head. 

Conceived as a one-off high horology and jewellery masterpiece, the house places its ultimate icon, Mademoiselle Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, at the centre of play — not merely as a motif, but enthroned as the queen who governs time itself. 

Around her, the house’s codes unfold in black and white: graphic, lavish, enigmatic, and unmistakably Chanel.

Designed at Place Vendome in Paris and realised at the Chanel Watch Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this one-of-a-kind creation sits at the rare intersection of luxury accessory, art, and home decor.

Priced at an eye-watering US$4 million ($5.17 million), it seeks to tell a story with unravelling layers — from couture references to technical feats in ceramics and gem-setting — all contained within a board that keeps time.

This set forms the centrepiece of Chanel’s Coco Game capsule collection, a playful exploration of gaming culture imagined by Arnaud Chastaingt, director of the Chanel Watchmaking Creation Studio. 

The 14-piece high watchmaking collection also reinterprets video games, playing cards, dominoes, and board games through watches, secret jewellery watches, and gem-set objets d’art.

How Coco Chanel becomes the queen of this luxury chess set

The central idea for this chess set is disarmingly clever. Two queens — one in white, one in black — conceal fully functioning watches underneath, turning Coco Chanel into the arbiter of time.

Each figure is sculpted in white gold and set with diamonds using a tweed-setting technique that replicates the texture of her signature suits, with blackened gold accents and ceramic details anchoring the base. 

The white queen alone is set with 842 brilliant-cut diamonds weighing more than six carats, while her black counterpart combines white gold with black coating, ceramic, and diamonds.

The dials, just 25mm across, are set with brilliant-cut diamonds and powered by high-precision quartz movements displaying hours and minutes. Water-resistant to 30m, they are far more than decorative novelties hidden within the chess pieces.

Together with the rest of the sumptuously detailed pieces, they form a Chanel-coded universe. 

The king is embodied by a lion, which is a direct nod to the maison founder’s Leo zodiac sign. On the white side, the majestic white-gold feline is snow-set with 764 diamonds. 

Bishops take the form of couture busts, while rooks (castles) reinterpret the Vendome Column — a recurring architectural motif in the house’s jewels and a reference to Place Vendome itself.

Knights emerge as regal horses rendered with exquisite intricacy, while pawns combine black ceramic, white gold, and diamonds. Even the bases receive meticulous attention, alternating between ceramic, white gold, black lacquer, and pave-set diamonds.

Inside Chanel’s diamond-set high horology chessboard

Execution is where the chessboard shifts into serious artistic territory. The square board measures 37.9cm across, with 64 squares of alternating black and white high-resistance ceramic. Each measures 3.4cm by 3.4cm, and is precisely cut and aligned. 

A row of 516 brilliant-cut diamonds, weighing approximately 15.5 carats, frames the playing surface with sheer brilliance. Beneath, an obsidian base adds both weight and depth, visually grounding the piece.

The figurines are an exercise in contrast. The black ones are precision-engineered from highly resistant black ceramic — a material seven times harder than steel. Working with ceramics at this level requires exacting control, particularly when shaping fine details such as the lion’s mane, the folds of Coco Chanel’s suit, or the fluting of the Vendome Column.

The white pieces, meanwhile, are cast and then shaped in white gold. Many also showcase snow-setting and tweed-setting techniques to achieve scintillating, textile-like diamond surfaces. The latter is especially significant to Chanel, evoking the woven texture of its iconic tweed jackets through carefully arranged stones.

Across the entire set, more than 9,236 diamonds weighing almost 111 carats are used. Yet the result is not excessive; it is tasteful. 

Surfaces alternate between polished gold, matte ceramic, lacquered details, and pave-set stones, creating a rhythm rather than a single note of brilliance.

Beyond chess: A Chanel jewellery creation that tells time

The Chanel Coco Game chessboard is not intended to remain static. Instead, Chanel builds an interaction that extends beyond the game itself.

The two queen pieces can be detached and worn as necklaces, suspended from a white-gold chain set with 268 brilliant-cut diamonds, a central 0.70-carat diamond, 40 onyx beads, and two onyx cylinders.

In this context, the hidden watch becomes a secret carried on the body — a continuation of Chanel’s long-standing fascination with concealment and revelation in its version of horology.

Even in situ, the object invites handling. The weight of the pieces, the contrast between ceramic and gold, and the tactile quality of the diamond settings make play itself part of the experience.

The maison’s expertise is evident in the finishing: crisp edges on ceramic components, precise alignment of thousands of stones, black-lacquered accents applied to selected details, and seamless integration of movement components within sculptural forms.

The chessboard is engraved with “Piece Unique” and “Fabriquee en Suisse a la Manufacture Horlogere de Chanel”, reinforcing its status as a singular collector’s piece.

Reflecting Chanel’s approach to watchmaking — not just measuring time but staging it as an exclusive sensory encounter — this extraordinary luxury chess set makes a resounding statement: Time itself is a luxury.

Above all, Chanel seems to be issuing a challenge to the rest of the industry: What’s your next move?