By Ema Lynnx
Inspired by the Parisian avenue, but deeply rooted in the watchmaking region of Neuchâtel, the watch brand Champs Elysees develops a unique vision of the women's watch. Architectural geometries, mother-of-pearl, natural stones, diamonds and sculptural lines compose the vocabulary of an independent house that intends to bring French elegance closer to Swiss precision.
A house born from a memory
Some watchmaking houses seek their identity in industrial archives, aviation, motor racing, or exploration. Champs Élysées has chosen a more emotional territory: Paris, its vistas, its monuments, and the evocative power of its most famous avenue.
The brand presents its origin as a childhood memory: a young boy discovering, alongside his mother, the Arc de Triomphe and the Place Charles de Gaulle. This image is said to have sparked a lasting fascination with the French capital, its architecture, and the way its lines structure the space. At Champs Élysées, Paris is therefore not used as a mere decorative reference. The city becomes a creative matrix from which the cases, dials, and proportions of the collections are conceived.
Behind this story lies Keyvan Lamé, an entrepreneur from a family active in the world of gold and jewelry. After working in the distribution and sale of international watch brands, he founded Champs Élysées SA in Neuchâtel in 2011. His project is based from the outset on a meeting between Swiss watchmaking, the jewelry watch and a certain idea of Parisian femininity.
Champs Élysées defines itself today as an independent watchmaker. It champions an approach where the understated elegance, proportion, and timeless sophistication of Parisian design meet the technical discipline of Swiss Made. This dual culture forms the core of its positioning: inspiration resides in Paris, while the development and assembly of the timepieces are carried out in Switzerland.
Paris as a principle of construction
The name Champs-Élysées immediately evokes luxury, but the house does not reduce the avenue to its boutiques, its illuminations, or its international image. It is more interested in its geometric construction: a powerful axis, a continuous perspective, a succession of balanced lines, and an architecture governed by proportion.
In its design philosophy, the brand cites, among other things, the alignment of the avenue, the restraint of the facades, the rows of trees, and the importance of negative space. These urban principles are transposed into watchmaking design: a case must find its natural place on the wrist, a dial must be legible without appearing cluttered, and every detail must contribute to a coherent composition.
This approach allows Champs Élysées to avoid an overly literal interpretation of Paris. The monuments are not reproduced on the dials. They are translated into shapes, rhythms, and volumes. The Place de l'Étoile thus inspires a radiating structure, the Seine gives rise to a fluid silhouette, and the Royal Opera of Versailles becomes a play of curves and half-moons.
The brand encapsulates this philosophy in three concepts: proportion, architectural precision, and understated elegance. Each collection has its own story, but all share a common goal: to design a distinctive watch without resorting to ostentatious displays.
Neuchâtel, the other address of Champs Élysées
While Paris fuels the brand's imagination, Neuchâtel provides its watchmaking foundation. It is in this Swiss environment that the watches are developed, assembled, cased, regulated and tested.
The company states that the integration of the movements, the fitting of the hands, the dial work, the casing, and the quality controls are all carried out in Switzerland according to the criteria of the Swiss Made label. Each component is selected based on its quality, durability, and its ability to integrate into the overall aesthetic of the timepiece.
Champs Élysées uses the term "manufacture" to refer to its workshop and production environment. However, this should be distinguished from that of an integrated manufacture that produces all of its own movements. The technical specifications currently presented by the company notably feature Swiss ETA calibers for several quartz models, while certain Estelle references are equipped with a Swiss Made automatic movement.
This organization corresponds to the model of many independent Swiss houses: the creation, the construction of the product, the selection of components, the assembly and the control are controlled by the brand, while some mechanical parts come from specialized engine manufacturers.
Estelle, the geometry of the Place de l'Étoile
Estelle is probably the collection most directly linked to the Parisian landscape. Its name comes from Latin star, the star, and refers to the Place Charles-de-Gaulle, formerly called Place de l'Étoile, where twelve avenues converge towards the Arc de Triomphe.
The dial echoes this radiating design. The twelve hour markers symbolically correspond to the twelve avenues that unfold around the monument. This construction gives the watch a look that is both classic and architectural, in which each hour indication contributes to the overall perspective.
With its 36-millimeter round case, Estelle maintains proportions befitting a contemporary jewelry watch. Depending on the version, it combines stainless steel, 18-karat yellow or rose gold, mother-of-pearl, diamonds, and alligator leather straps. The models are available with Swiss Made quartz or automatic movements.
The Estelle Steel illustrates the balance sought by the house between watches and jewelry. Its 36-millimeter steel case frames a white mother-of-pearl dial, complemented by applied Roman numerals and skeletonized, leaf-shaped hands. Its bezel is set with 42 diamonds, to which is added a diamond positioned at 6 o'clock as a visual signature.
With the Estelle Nuances, Champs Élysées evolves this architectural style towards a more contemporary aesthetic. This limited edition combines a diamond-set steel case, a Swiss Made automatic movement, a sapphire crystal, and water resistance to 5 atmospheres. The watch maintains a diameter of 36 millimeters and a slim profile of 8,5 millimeters.
Rive Blanche, the curves of the Seine
Where Estelle favors symmetry and structure, Rive Blanche introduces movement. The collection is inspired by the Seine, its journey through Paris, and the ever-changing reflections of the water.
Its case adopts a teardrop or droplet shape, recognizable by its soft, asymmetrical lines. No sharp angles interrupt its silhouette. The watch is built around continuous curves that evoke a wave, a polished pebble, or a suspended drop of water.
This distinctive shape is one of the brand's most defining characteristics. To maintain the continuity of the design, the traditional side-mounted winding crown is replaced on several models by a time-setting pusher located on the case back. This design preserves a perfectly fluid profile, more akin to a piece of jewelry than a conventional watch.
The Rive Blanche in steel measures 38,60 x 33,65 millimeters and is 7,75 millimeters thick. It features a brown mother-of-pearl dial set with 98 diamonds totaling 0,86 carats. Its CE-Q-002 quartz movement is based on an ETA E01.701 caliber, while its black alligator strap completes its deliberately understated aesthetic.
The Rive Blanche Butterfly offers a more jewelry-like interpretation. Crafted in 18-karat rose gold, it is set with 101 diamonds and mounted on a white alligator strap. The case shape evokes the symmetry of a butterfly in flight, while remaining true to the collection's original silhouette.
Even more precious, the Rive Blanche Marquetry combines an 18-karat yellow gold case, 291 snow-set diamonds, and a brown mother-of-pearl marquetry dial. The mother-of-pearl work brings an organic depth to the dial's surface, while the natural variations in the material make each composition slightly different.
Royal Opera, the evening watch reinterpreted
The house's third major collection draws its inspiration from the Royal Opera of Versailles. Inaugurated under Louis XV, this spectacular space is known for its architecture, its plays of perspective, and its ability to transform light.
The Opéra Royal watch embodies this quest for balance through a round dial surrounded by two intertwined curved shapes. These crescents create a silhouette reminiscent of an ellipse or the infinity symbol. The collection thus reinterprets the traditional evening watch in a contemporary style.
On the most precious models, the 40 x 35 mm steel case is entirely set with a snow setting. One version combines 396 diamonds on the case with an additional 12 diamonds on the dial, for a total of 408 stones representing 2,61 carats. The dial can be made of white mother-of-pearl or a deep blue mother-of-pearl called "Bleu de Noir".
The snow setting technique uses diamonds of varying sizes arranged irregularly to cover the surface with minimal visible metal. This technique enhances the impression of continuous light and transforms the case into a true work of jewelry architecture.
Despite this abundance of gemstones, Champs Élysées strives to maintain a degree of legibility. The relatively restrained proportions, the clearly defined central dial, and the alligator or shagreen straps help to balance the dramatic nature of the gem-setting. The Opéra Royal models are currently offered with a Swiss quartz movement derived from the ETA E01.701 and a water resistance of 5 atmospheres.
Matter as an element of identity
The personality of Champs Élysées is largely defined by the materials used. Mother-of-pearl plays a central role in all three collections. White, brown, blue, or worked in marquetry, it provides reflections that change depending on the orientation of the wrist and the light.
The company also uses steel, 18-karat yellow and rose gold, as well as alligator, satin leather, or shagreen straps. Diamonds are advertised in high qualities, generally IF to VVS for clarity and D to F for color in documented references.
More recently, Champs Élysées has also explored dials made of natural stone. Each disc is cut directly from the raw material, resulting in unique veins, nuances, and depth. In 2026, the brand notably presented a limited edition of twenty pieces featuring a dial made of so-called "fish belly" stone. The production quantity was reportedly determined by the usable portion of the available stone, rather than by an intention to artificially create scarcity.
These natural dials contribute to an interesting evolution for the brand. They introduce a form of irregularity into a world previously dominated by geometry and masterful composition. The precision of the forms is now countered by the unpredictable nature of the material.
An independent house seeking visibility
After several years of relatively low-key presence, Champs Élysées presented its creations at Time to Watches 2026 in Geneva. The brand describes this participation as the beginning of a new chapter and a pivotal step in its development. Natural stone dials played a significant role in this new creative expression.
This reappearance comes at a time when independent brands must assert an immediately recognizable identity. Faced with historic houses boasting archives, proprietary calibers, and powerful distribution networks, Champs Élysées is banking on a highly differentiated aesthetic language.
Its main strength lies precisely in this coherence. Estelle, Rive Blanche, and Opéra Royal are not alike, but they share the same universe: that of a women's watch conceived as an object of architecture and jewelry. The Parisian inspiration gives the brand an accessible narrative, while Swiss craftsmanship provides the essential technical legitimacy for its positioning.
Between watch and jewelry
Champs Élysées does not seek to pit mechanical watchmaking against quartz watches. The company chooses its movements according to the style, dimensions, and intended use of each model. Quartz, in particular, allows for the development of slim cases, devoid of a visible crown, and suited to the requirements of a jewelry watch. Automatic movements appear on certain Estelle models, reflecting a more traditional watchmaking approach.
This plurality reflects the hybrid nature of the house. Its creations are neither simple timepieces nor technical watches to which a few diamonds have been added. The case, the gem-setting, the dial, and the movement are considered as different components of a single object.
In a watchmaking landscape where mechanical performance often takes center stage, Champs Élysées champions a different interpretation of time: more emotional, more architectural, and resolutely feminine. A vision in which Paris is not merely a prestigious name, but becomes a method of creation.
From the geometry of the Place de l'Étoile to the curves of the Seine, and the lights of the Royal Opera, each collection transforms a fragment of heritage into the language of watchmaking. In Neuchâtel, these inspirations take shape in Swiss Made watches where mother-of-pearl, natural stones, gold, and diamonds meet the precision of Swiss craftsmanship.
Champs Élysées was thus built between two cities and two cultures: Paris offered its imagination, Neuchâtel its expertise. Between the two, the company designed an independent watchmaking business that made the watch a souvenir, a symbol, and a declaration of elegance.
