Exhibition Of Patrimony Creations From March 20th To April 30th, 2021, in Piaget Boutiques in Geneva and Zurich

Dive into the dazzling world of Piaget and discover the Maison’s exceptional know-how through a selection of creations from the Piaget Private Collection, which illustrates Piaget’s creativity, audacity, and passion.

Technique Serving Design

True to its pioneering spirit, Piaget launched watches in the early 1960s featuring hard stone dials vying with the radiance of the shimmering gold bracelets. Over 3o different stones spelled the triumph of colour, while the chains and bracelets expressed boundless creativity and a rare degree of technical mastery. This two-fold virtuosity stems from a demanding approach based on unwavering standards of excellence combining time-honoured expertise, a tireless quest for the avant-garde, along with the traditional art of watchmaking. This major upheaval stemmed from a specific characteristic of the brand, that of ultra-thin movements.

Ultra-thin watchmaking has always been the Piaget stronghold. Since 1874, Georges- Edouard Piaget had been supplying movements and movement components renowned for their fine workmanship and sophistication to the most prestigious international watchmaking houses. In 1913, Piaget first began to appear in watch supplier catalogues as the specialist of ultra-thin components. Valentin  Piaget  took up the baton and pushed innovation to unprecedented heights in 1957 by introducing the 2mm thick 9P movement that caused a sensation, followed by the 12P and its ingenious micro-rotor, which became part of the world’s thinnest automatic watch in 196o.

Technical and aesthetic innovation was conveyed firstly through watches with colourful gemstone dials and secondly through ever more sophisticated gold workmanship. More than ever, quality and craftsmanship formed the very core of these creations radiating an inimitable sense of exclusivity. The in-house artisans constantly pushed the boundaries of technical feasibility, whether in creating ultra-thin movement, crafting hard stones to within infinitely small tolerances or making gold bracelets as supple as fabric. The Piaget expertise was thus eloquently confirmed and its vocation as a watchmaker and jeweller truly determined.

A Vibrant Revolution

Propelled by the incredible creative momentum of the 1960s, the House raised hard stones to   the rank of precious stones. The brand soon grasped the value of using these materials and immediately mastered  the requisite gem-cutting skills. Colour became  the hallmark of the brand: jade, coral, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye or turquoise... Thanks to their interaction with light, to their inclusions and their subtle nuances, they gave unique character to each creation.

Surfing the Op Art wave, Piaget created astonishing graphic effects by combining various hard stones. The latter indeed soon also invaded bracelets, transforming watches into full-fledge jewellery creations. According to watch expert Aurel Bacs, the Piaget watches of the 1960s and 1980s conveyed the spirit of an era that saw the future flying the banner of freedom, thereby reflecting the art, architecture, design of the time, as well as the orange or green sports
cars and Haute Couture garments. Ornamental stones were used on dials and bezels, before migrating to bracelets. Colour invaded the watch in a burst  of  vivid, joyful colours. Piaget went even further, raising ornamental stones to the rank. Each dial and each piece of jewellery  thus  adorned  has  its  own  life  and  a  unique  personality, whether tiger's eye with  its stripes that react in perpetually different ways; or lapis lazuli with its unique inclusions. Ornamental stones are living materials, with their own veins, their own origins and their own depth.

In its tireless quest for perfection, Piaget took the decision in 1957 to craft its watches exclusively from precious metal, so that the outside casing would meet the standards set by the exceptional movement inside. This essential choice was to lead to the in-house integration of gold and platinum workmanship and to engender exceptional expertise. In ig6i, Piaget began acquiring various workshops specializing in goldsmithing as it sought to achieve complete vertical integration of its production. The brand now has the means to fulfill its ambitions.

The chain bracelets represented the firm’s first steps in the pursuit of new ways of working with precious metals in order to enhance its timepieces. Today, the Manufacture Piaget is
one of the rare companies still perpetuating the jeweller-chain maker profession. This skill is cultivated within a workshop entirely dedicated to this art and where numerous bracelet prototypes are stored — representing an invaluable memory bank of expertise passed on from generation to generation.

Exceptionally skilled artisans shape gold to fulfill every demand, sculpting it, giving it a unique suppleness, or causing it to flow like a silky fabric. To adorn the surface of its bracelets, Piaget uses a variety of engraved or stamped motifs evoking the patterns of nature. Gold is the stuff of dreams and the realm of the imagination. Carved out of a block, sculpted, open worked, hollowed, hammered and beaded: gold is omnipresent in both jewellery and watchmaking. Gold craftsmanship consists in deft operations tirelessly repeated and perfected until they become instinctive, along with tricks of the trade acquired by experience, as well as construction techniques that are skillfully elaborated.

Let there be light!

Always in a spirit of self surpassing,  the  quest  for aesthetics is al so expressed among the light. The diamonds and precious stones make extraordinary colors shine on the most precious creations. Radiance is a key notion for Piaget, which wants each radiant, as well as inherently beautiful.

Exquisite marquise... This truly  exquisite, delicately executed cut has become a Piaget style signature. It was born from the smile of the Marquise de Pompadour, who held King Louis XV of France spell bound for 20 years. The monarch requested  that a diamond be cut in the shape of this much-loved  smile. One could scarcely imagine anything more precious than this ellipse with its tapering cone-shaped  tips. A marquise can only be cut from a large  stone, thus  involving a considerable loss of material in achieving the unique glow of this 55-facet diamond. The  fire  of the stone starts from the center and flames out to each end, in a dynamic unique to this cut and epitomizing the radiance so deeply cherished by Piaget.

PIAGET GENEVA BOUTIQUE

Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm.

Only by appointment at +41 22 817 02 00 or boutique-piaget.geneve@piaget.com

PIAGET ZURICH BOUTIQUE - Gold craftsmanship

Monday to Friday from 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm.

Only by appointment at +41 442 13 10 40 or boutique-piaget.zuerich@piaget.com

Ultra thin watch
- White gold
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1957
- Piaget Private Collection

Ultra thin watch
- White gold
- Coral dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1973
- Piaget Private Collection

Bracelet watch in yellow gold with lapis lazuli & turquoise beads
- Yellow gold
- 64 turquoise beads
- 70 lapis lazuli beads
- Turquoise dial
- Piaget 6N hand wound movement
- 1970
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold cuff watch
- Dial and coral beads
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1974
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold cuff watch
- Malachite dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1970
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold cuff watch
- Ruby dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1970
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold cuff watch
- Cuff watch that belonged to Elizabeth Taylor
- Yellow gold
- Jade dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1971
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold cuff watch
- Lapis lazuli dial and cabochons
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1971
- Piaget Private Collection

Yellow gold necklace watch set with lapis lazuli pearls
- Lapis lazuli dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1970
- Piaget Private Collection

High Jewellery Cuff in White Gold
- 300 diamonds (5.11 ct
- 48 opal elements
- Opal dial
- Manufacture Piaget 6N hand wound mechanical movement
- 1969
- Piaget Private Collection

 
Jewellery watch
- Yellow gold
- 41 brilliant cut diamonds (2.01 cts)
- Malachite dial
- Piaget 9P ultra thin hand wound movement
- 1972
- Piaget Private Collection

About Piaget

Piaget epitomizes daring creativity - a quality that In as continued to permeate through the Maison since its beginnings in l874. From his first  workshop in La Cote-aux- Fees, Georges- Edouard Piaget devoted himself to crafting high-precision movements in a feat that formed the  very foundations of our pioneering name. In the late 1950s, Piaget unveiled the ultra-thin movements that would later become the Maison’s trademark and the cornerstone of the Altiplano collection. As a true innovator of the watch and jewellery world, Piaget strongly believed in creativity and artistic values. It is within the walls of our “Ateliers de I’Extraordinaire" where master artisans continue to harness rare skills that have been preserved and perfected from generation to generation, transforming gold, stones and precious gems into dazzling works of art. Through its pursuit of masterful craftsmanship, the Maison has created emblems of daring excellence.