Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen is the latest face of Chanel’s ceramic J12 watch. For its latest glossy watch campaign, Chanel is hitting the water and recruited Gisele Bündchen and French model Clément Chabernaud along for the ride.

Photographed last year in the south of France, the campaign sees both models wearing Chanel’s J12 ceramic watch – a unisex timepiece designed to be worn by anyone.

“The atmosphere was inspiring and relaxed, the team was wonderful to work with, and there were many moments when the light was just perfect, and everything felt magical,” said Bündchen, of the experience. The model is a well-known water baby and a capable surfer, frequently photographed paddling out in the waves around Miami or Costa Rica with her family.

It seems Chanel are equally enamoured with the new partnership. “Gisèle Bündchen is a natural choice for this campaign. There is a genuine authenticity about her, and a true balance of strength and softness that echoes the duality at the heart of J12,” says Marianne Etchebarne, Global Director of Image and Communication for CHANEL Watches & Fine Jewellery.

The campaign’s nautical aesthetic was shaped by the watery origins of the watch, as well as Gabrielle Chanel’s lifelong fascination with the sea.

Boating, in particular, provided Chanel with endless design inspiration. Nautical Breton stripes, breezy sailing trousers, softly tailored jackets and brass accents all found their way into her 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 purchased her own boat, the Mathilde.

In 1999, Chanel’s eponymous house debuted the J12 watch, conceived by the-then chief designer, Jacques Hélleu – an ardent yacht racing fan. Intended as an elegant yet practical timepiece, it was the first sports watch to crafted entirely 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.