Film director Hirokazu Kore-eda spotted wearing a Chanel

Hirokazu Kore-eda has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival for the better part of two decades, winning the Palme d'Or in 2018 for 'Shoplifters.' At this year's edition, eagle-eyed watch spotters caught the celebrated Japanese director on the Croisette with a Chanel J12 in black ceramic on his wrist — a watch whose own history is as carefully constructed as one of Kore-eda's narrative arcs.

The Chanel J12 launched in 2000 under the creative direction of Jacques Helleu, borrowing its name and aesthetic DNA from the J/12-class racing yachts that dominated offshore competition at the time. Black ceramic came one year later, in 2001, and it is this darker version that collectors have consistently regarded as the definitive expression of the design. The case and bracelet are crafted from high-tech zirconia-alumina ceramic — a material that resists scratches, holds its gloss over decades, and sits cool against the skin. The 2020 redesign brought a new in-house Calibre 12.1 movement, replacing the previous ETA base, a change that substantially elevated the watch's credibility among serious enthusiasts.

The current J12 reference runs 38mm in diameter, houses the automatic Calibre 12.1 with approximately 70 hours of power reserve, and features a unidirectional rotating bezel with ceramic insert and a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. The dial — black, naturally — carries applied hour markers and Chanel's characteristic clean typography. Water resistance sits at 200 metres, a nod to its sport-watch origins.

For collectors, the J12 occupies a specific and sometimes underrated niche. It was genuinely ahead of its time in normalising ceramic as a premium case material, predating the ceramic wave that would sweep through Rolex, Patek Philippe, and Audemars Piguet over the following decade. The 2020 movement upgrade removed the last serious objection to it as a horological object rather than a fashion piece.

Kore-eda's choice of the black J12 at Cannes feels characteristically un-showy — a monochromatic, architecturally confident watch that doesn't compete with his work for attention. The Chanel J12 in black ceramic retails at approximately $6,900 USD, with grey-market examples trading close to retail, reflecting steady but not speculative demand.