July 29, 2013 |
When Jack was 18 his father bought him his first watch. Despite the fact that he could not tell the time. It was Japanese and entirely black. Black face. Black hands. Black numbers. You couldn’t see anything, let alone tell the time. It was also plastic. Jack has hardly worn the watch. Only on special occasions. Such as Christmas. And birthdays. On the rare occasions that he does wear it he still uses his mobile phone to tell the time. Which leads us to conclude that the best kind of watch one can own is one from which you can tell the time. One with a face that has clearly defined hands and numbers. One by Chanel. Such as the Chanel J12 Superleggera. In matt black. In watch terms it is perfect. A chronograph. Ceramic, aluminium, titanium and rubber. Self-winding, with a 42-hour power reserve and a screw-down crown. It is also superleggera. Which means super light. Not super legs as we first thought. Though Jack does have super legs and so should have an accessory, such as a watch, that pays tribute to his assets. Many years ago, when he was young and dreaming of stardom as a Korean pop star, he was invited to audition for the biggest K-pop group in the world: *KSync. They were bigger than *NSync and were looking to replace the weird one who had dreams of becoming an astronaut and going off into space, a dream that has yet to come true. Jack’s parents, being supportive of his dreams, booked him onto the first flight to Seoul in the hope that he would be crowned the king of Eastern pop. But Jack missed his flight. He had been out the night before and had forgotten to charge his phone. When he woke up he had no way of telling the time. He couldn’t read his watch. He drove in a panic to the airport. But it was too late. His flight had flown and, with it, his dreams. He emailed *KSync, trying to explain, but *KSync did not understand. How could anyone not know how to tell the time? If they had relied on watches they would still be like Jack. Dreaming of stardom rather than being stars. It was thanks to their Chanel J12s that they were always on time. They were known in Korea as much for their punctuality as their music. Concerts started at the time stated on the ticket. As much as they loved Jack’s beautiful singing voice – they told him that it regularly brought them to the verge of tears – he had to accept his lack of time-telling skills was destroying his chance of finding fame as the fifth member of *KSync. And so Jack decided to persevere. All that stood between him and his dreams was a Chanel J12 Superleggera. And so he promptly phoned his local Chanel boutique and demanded to be placed on the waiting list.
by Natalie Dembinska
