No doubt picking up on the trend of wired 1990s-style earbuds—must-haves for those craving nostalgia tech from an era they may not have been around for—Chanel has dropped a “jewelry watch,” where the bracelet transforms into a necklace that hides a physical connection for earphones.
The Première Sound Watch is a riff on the brand’s Première watch, created in 1987, but with a long sautoir necklace with detachable earphones and a quaint 3.5-mm jack—but, fear not, the set also comes with 3.5 mm to Lightning and 3.5 mm to USB-C adapters, for those who prefer more up-to-date tech in their phones.
The whole “luxury meets Lana Del Rey” creation (available September 2) started two years ago as a sketch by Chanel watchmaking studio director Arnaud Chastaingt, who was fooling around with the concept of shoehorning audio kit into products worn as accessories. While the watch and necklace elements could be taken care of in-house by Chastaingt and his team, Chanel wisely turned to Master & Dynamic—a brand with form when it comes to collaborating with luxury marques, including Louis Vuitton and Celine—for the audio expertise.
Speaking of which, the headphones feature a 6-mm planar diaphragm and 11-mm beryllium-coated dynamic drivers with a frequency response of 20 Hz to 20 KHz, so not too shabby. The wire itself houses a remote for volume control, play/pause, answer/hang up, and skip forward and skip back, as well as a microphone for taking calls.
Water resistance for the wired buds, however, is just IPX3—so merely splash proof. The 18K yellow-gold-coated quartz watch on the Première (with an octagonal case inspired by the stopper of the No. 5 perfume bottle) fares much better, with a water resistance of 30 meters, should you be foolish enough to go diving with a piece of wearable audio jewelry that costs £12,600 in the UK or $14,700 in the US.
If only Apple had known, when it removed the 3.5-mm headphone jack from the iPhone in 2017, that it was going to start a future backlash where wireless earbuds like the ubiquitous AirPods would be considered so lame, entire Instagram channels would be devoted to young, hip people signaling their youth and hipness by wearing wired earbuds, simultaneously looking cool while shunning convention, better technology, common sense, and general convenience.
You see, you have to suffer for your Y2K nostalgia. After all, how else can you remember what it was like to rock a Walkman or first-gen iPod when you weren’t there in the first place? Well, at least now, Chanel and Master & Dynamic have stepped into the fray, offering a chic option for those growing weary of their impossible cleverness of juxtaposing stylish clothes while rocking cheapo headphones.