Chanel has become the official timekeeping partner of The Boat Race (AKA The Oxford Cambridge Boat Race), one of the most historic competitions in the sporting world. Here, we unpack Chanel’s long history with boating and take a closer look at the brand’s renowned J12 watch, inspired by Gabrielle Chanel’s love of the water.
For one day each spring, the banks of the River Thames in London are lined with hundreds of thousands of people, all eagerly cheering on the boating teams of Oxford and Cambridge university, who have been locked in a fearsome rivalry for almost 200 years.
Established in 1829, The Boat Race is the oldest major sporting event in Britain and a treasured highlight of the annual sporting calendar, pitting the dark blue (Oxford) and light blue (Cambridge) crews of eight rowers against each other on the River Thames.
A race of just over four miles, the Championship course runs between Putney and Mortlake in London, where it is watched by over 250,000 spectators, plus millions more who tune in live on television and online.
For 2025, The Boat Race will be sponsored by Chanel, which has come on board as the event’s long-term title sponsor and official timekeeper – leading to it being re-named ‘The Chanel J12 Boat Race’. It’s the first time the Parisian house has ever sponsored a sporting event.
“We are delighted to sign a strategic partnership with The Boat Race, who share the same values of collective endeavour and the pursuit of excellence,” says Frédéric Grangié, President of Chanel’s watches and fine jewellery division. “It’s an honour to be the first ever official timekeeper in the race’s 195-year history to simultaneously become Title Sponsor and principal Partner.
Synchronicity in rowing is as crucial to the race as watchmaking craftsmanship to ensure accurate timing. Every rower, like every mechanism in a watch, must work together as one; the balance, the weight and the oar movements must all be impeccably timed. We look forward to working with The Boat Race over the coming years to bring this partnership to life, through the world of Chanel and our iconic J12 watches.”
Chanel’s history with the sporting world actually has deep roots. As a designer, Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel did much to revolutionise women’s fashion in the early 20th century, doing away with the corsetry and frills that had restricted women’s bodies in previous decades and ushering in a new era of fluid and androgynous silhouettes, claiming that “nothing is more beautiful than freedom of the body.”
For Coco, comfort was key. She adopted traditionally ‘masculine’ outfits into her own wardrobe, transforming both the practical, hardwearing outfits worn by French fisherman and the sporty attire of her outdoorsy lovers, such as the Duke of Westminster, into effortless fashion statements.
Boating, in particular, provided Chanel with endless inspiration. Nautical Breton stripes, breezy sailing trousers, softly tailored jackets and brass accents all found their way into her nonchalant clothing collections, partly thanks to her time spent aboard the Flying Cloud – the 86-metre yacht owned by the Duke of Westminster, which they cruised around the French Riviera in the 1920s. Decades later, having built her own successful fashion empire, Chanel actually owned her own boat, the glamorous Mathilde.
In 1999, Chanel’s eponymous house debuted the J12 watch, conceived by the-then chief designer, Jacques Hélleu – another yacht racing fan. Intended as an elegant yet practical sports watch, the timepiece was crafted from durable ceramic (a material not yet widely used in watchmaking) and named after the J-class 12 metre racing yachts that Hélleu so admired.
Since then, Chanel’s J12 watch has become a lauded part of its watchmaking repertoire and is gently updated each year with different colour ways and jewels. This year’s iteration is crafted from deep blue ceramic and comes embellished with white diamonds or dark blue sapphires – a gentle nod, perhaps, to The Boat Race itself, and the choppy, chilly waters of the Thames that the Oxford and Cambridge teams will battle over again this spring.
Like this? Learn more about Chanel’s sportiest ever high jewellery collection.
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