Chanel’s J12 Bleu has won Best New Collection at the 2025 Revolution Watch Awards because it does something deceptively difficult: it changes the J12 without disturbing it. No new case shape. No revisionist backstory. No attempt to turn the watch into something it has never been. Instead, Chanel alters one fundamental element and lets the consequences ripple across the entire collection. That element is color. Or more accurately, material.

The J12 has always been about ceramic, not as a coating or a flourish but as structure. Black and white established the watch’s authority years ago. Bleu introduces a third state. It is not a bright blue and it does not follow current color trends. In low light, it reads almost black. In daylight, it opens up. The surface is matte and deliberately unshowy. This is not a color designed to announce itself from across a room. Instead it catches your attention and invites you to take a second look.

It took five years of research for the Chanel Watch Manufacture to develope the J12 Bleu’s exclusive hue (©Revolution)

Chanel did not treat this blue as a seasonal experiment. The ceramic took years to develop, and once it was ready, the brand committed to it fully. Bleu is not one watch. It is a collection, and that is important. The same material runs through three-hand automatics, high complications and extreme sapphire constructions. The watches differ wildly in price and complexity, yet they still feel related.

At the entry level, the automatic J12s remain straightforward, solid timepieces. Ceramic case and bracelet. Clear legibility. Movements chosen for reliability rather than theater. They do their job and they look good doing it. Chanel does not overexplain this, and nor should it.

Chanel J12 Bleu (©Revolution)

Move up the range and the tone shifts. Tourbillons appear. Skeletonization creeps in. Sapphire cases push the idea of transparency close to its limits. Yet the design never loses its footing. The J12 architecture stays intact, and complications are added rather than paraded. The watches remain wearable, even when they become technically ambitious.

Chanel J12 Bleu Diamond Tourbillon (©Revolution)

The collection reflects how far Chanel has come as a watchmaker. There is no need to posture. In-house calibers sit alongside externally developed ones without apology. Different watches are allowed to do different jobs and that quiet confidence runs through the entire lineup.

Caliber 5 was the result of three years of development, comprising 172 parts (©Revolution)

Bleu also avoids nostalgia. There is no vintage borrowing, no archival costume. This is a modern watch being allowed to mature on its own terms. The blue ceramic shifts with the light and the matte finish will wear in. Chanel seems fine with that. The J12 no longer needs to chase relevance.

This is not a collection for the spec-sheet crowd or the hype-chasers. It is for people who understand the J12. The award recognizes that judgement. Chanel did not reinvent the watch. It refined its position and, in so doing, it strengthened one of the most durable designs of the past 25 years.