"As she had no time to lose, Mademoiselle Chanel chose to take her time. Born at the end of the 19th century, she quickly guessed that the 20th century was there for the taking. She wanted to make it her time, to be involved in her period." Young, Gabrielle Chanel didn't wear a watch. She lived her life and her time as she created them, in the most naive contempt of appropriateness and common practices: the hours didn't have the same length for her as for those close to her, whom as a result sometimes suffered. She already understood that the watch, a key object in the century of speed, should be solid, ordinary and fine. The post-war years confirmed her taste for large Swiss watches worn with white bracelets that she often offered to her friends. Is it really a coincidence that she first wanted to live in Switzerland, the world's cradle in watch making, when Paris no longer recognized her, before making Lausanne her last dwelling place?