60 YEARS OF COLOUR

The anniversary of a historic watch is always a golden opportunity to create new variations on an original icon. Remaining true to its reputation as a colour-centric watchmaker, Piaget presents three dazzling new timepieces that scintillate.

In 1957, a watch with an ultra-thin silhouette and sleek timeless style galvanized time. Elegant simplicity matched with unsurpassed comfortable wear quickly seduced connoisseurs and celebrities alike. Unbeknownst to Piaget, this ultra-thin timepiece was destined for greatness and status as an indisputable icon. In tribute to the high plateaus of the Andes, the quintessential Altiplano celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2017. Maintaining its enviously slim silhouette, the face of Altiplano has undergone a full colour transformation.

Garnering a reputation as master colourist and colour mixologist, Piaget boasts unparalleled expertise, crafting tours de force of time featuring semi-precious and precious gemstones. Elevating this 40mm Altiplano trinity to new heights, Piaget opted for dial colours to complement three primary golds. Cool white gold tempers warm taupe, radiant rose gold sets off serene blue and yellow gold makes emerald green shine.

Sheathed in three new colours, these 40mm Altiplano dials feature a sunburst gloss finish and baton-shaped hands sweeping from the centre around the hour markers. At 3 o’clock, a display edged in silver or gold plate indicates the date in black on a white background.

As its name clearly indicates, the Altiplano case measures 40mm in diameter and houses the Manufacture Piaget calibre 1203P ultra-thin self-winding mechanical movement, powering the time and date and providing a 44 hour power reserve.

Price available upon request piaget.com

By Sharmila Bertin

60 YEARS OF FINESSE

The brand specialised in ultra-flat watches is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its elegant Altiplano with two limited editions dressed in white gold and deep blue to enrich the collection of the same name.

Even if this watch, which is designed around the movement (and not the other way round, as is the case for most of today’s watchmakers), only acquired the name Altiplano in 1998, the legend created by Piaget first saw the light of day in 1957. Because it was in 1957 that Valentin Piaget – the grandson of the man who founded the watch-movement workshop in 1874 in Côte-aux-Fées (a town in Val-de-Travers, on the heights of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel), and where watches were made from 1911 – introduced a legendary calibre: the 9P. With its extreme fineness – only 2mm thick – this manual-winding mechanical mechanism is no less efficient, reliable and precise. A second extra-flat calibre, an automatic one this time, was produced three years later. Today, 60 years after the birth of the 9P, the brand is celebrating this important anniversary by releasing two fine and classy pieces that are as comfortable to wear, as classical and as elegant as only Piaget watches can be.

Introducing the Piaget Polo S

Piaget Polo first appeared in 1979 and soon became world famous for its unique looks and seamless strap and case combo. If there’s one thing that Piaget excels in, it’s shapes and especially circles and ovals just like on the new Piaget Polo S whose round case has a cushion-shape dial.

Five new models have joined the collection: three self-winding watches in three colours (opalescent, blue and grey) and two chronographs in two classic hues (white and blue). All five have the same 42mm round steel case topped with a large fitted bezel in brushed metal.

Two new self-winding movements have been designed to power the functions on the striped dials: the 1110P calibre brings to life the hours, minutes and seconds in the centre and the date at 6 whilst the chronograph is fuelled by the 1160P calibre.

Price: 10,500 CHF (automatic three-hands) – 14,000 CHF (automatic chronograph) piaget.com

By Sharmila Bertin

The Piaget rose with its hundred bright pink and softly scented “peony” petals is an endless source of inspiration for the brand. Once again, it is unfurling its fuchsia flower on the dial of an Altiplano. To create the bloom, the artist Rose Saneuil selected different materials (white mother-of-pearl, grained plane and pale pink maple, candy and scarlet sycamore), cut them up then assembled them, piece by piece, from the chapter ring to the heart of the dial. It took 25 hours and 96 wooden and mother-of-pearl pieces to make the dial. That means it took around 450 hours for this Boulle School graduate to make the 18 Altiplano Marqueterie de nacre et bois watches. The petals lie beneath two silver baton-shape hour and minute hands brought to life by the ultra-slim manual wind 430P calibre inside the 38mm diamond and white gold case. Price: 70,500 CHF. Sharmila Bertin
piaget.com

1976. The year that brought us U2, The Clash and The Cure …Whilst our ears listened to new tempos, our Swiss watches beat to the rhythm of quartz movements. Just like the 7P which Piaget brought us in 1976, the slimmest of its generation. Forty years on and the brand is still in touch with its electronic roots. The new Emperador Coussin XL 700P sees Piaget pair quartz with a great mechanism. What’s the idea? The traditional escapement is replaced by a generator which produces electricity to make quartz vibrate. It’s the same as dynamo hubs in bikes. What you get is no friction, no energy loss and precision that varies by 0.2s per day! The hybrid mechanism is showcased by a reverse dial-free construction meaning the hour and minute hands glide over the ultra-slim self-winding mechanical calibre. The stylish all-black timepiece oozes luxury watchmaking and high precision. Price: 70,000 CHF (118 available). Dan Diaconu
jaquet droz.com

To join the fight against Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) which affects almost 250,000 boys worldwide, Piaget has designed a unique version of its Altiplano especially for Only Watch. This watch will be auctioned off along with forty other timekeeping devices on November 7^th. Famous for being the world’s thinnest mechanical watch, the Altiplano model is fitted with a manual wind calibre which you can glimpse on the front and back. The slim figure doesn’t allow for a dial (3.65mm thick) but the black satin-finish surface gleams in the 38mm white gold case. The hours and minutes tick by beneath two red baton-shape hands which glide over a painstakingly graduated silver ring. The hour rim switches between long single and double-thickness black indices off-centre in the top left of the watch. The power reserve lasts up to 48 hours. Unique piece – www.onlywatch.com

The watch brand founded in La Côte-aux-Fées in the Swiss Jura has been the king of ultra-thin since the 1950s. Its self-winding and manual wind calibres alike are of such incredible finesse that they can fit into the thinnest watches. You don’t need us to tell you that minimum thickness means maximum elegance. You can see it for yourself in the Emperador collection’s 8.85mm thick cushion-shape case housing a self-winding tourbillon 1270S calibre. You can see the entire openwork movement (which is barely 5.05mm thick) through the sapphire glass as there’s no dial. The tourbillon and micro-rotor spin at 1 and 9 o’ clock respectively whilst the hours and minutes lie at 4 o’ clock with two dauphine-shape hands. The skeleton Emperador’s 46.5mm case is available in white or rose gold. Price upon request

First presented in 1982, the Yves Piaget rose hasn’t just become an inspiration for the dazzling designs by the eponymous brand but also its symbol. The peony shaped rose unfurls 80 indented intensely colourful petals and delicately fresh fragrance in a spellbinding bloom. Away from gardens and rose bushes, this magical flower blossoms from the dial of the ultra-thin Altiplano in a celebration of two precious art forms: miniature versions of embroidery and pointillism (a.k.a. divisionism) small enough to adorn a watch face. The rose is drawn onto white silk, the edges of the petals are lined with silver thread and each petal is embroidered with 4 different shades of pink thread. Silver-tone hour and minute hands burst from the heart of this masterpiece brought to life by the ultra-thin manual wind 430P calibre nestled inside the 38mm diamond and white gold case. Price: 37,800 CHF

A little over 15 years ago, in 1998 to be exact, the watch world was peopled with wide and thick men’s watches. A (future) classic was born: the Altiplano. The elegant and svelte ambassador with its slightly pearlescent white dial, single and double baton indices and slim slate grey hands seduced us with its understated sophistication. The Altiplano collection grew in 2015 with 6 dazzling new models. Why dazzling? The timepieces have a rose or white gold coat and some are adorned with diamonds (68 – 78 brilliant-cut diamonds). The delicate case is available in two sizes (34mm and 38mm) with a gold wide link strap. It has a self-winding 534P mechanical movement made by Piaget to provide the hour and minute functions (in the centre of the dial) and 42-hour power reserve. Price from 29,000 CHF (34mm white gold) to 41,100 CHF (38mm rose gold and diamonds)

The most renowned watchmaker-jewelers, whose finely crafted precious collections are adored by connoisseurs around the world, has chosen American international actress Jessica Chastain to embody the Piaget woman.

‘We are thrilled to introduce Jessica Chastain as our new international brand ambassador’, explains Philippe Léopold-Metzger, Piaget CEO. ‘She embodies Piaget’s unique values – from her audacious acting career choices to her unrelenting passion for perfection. She is beautiful, elegant, charismatic, and full of joy.’

‘It is an incredible honor to be in partnership with Piaget. They believe in innovation and boldness in their approach with pieces that are modern but respect the company’s rich heritage. Their attention to detail is unparalleled and their beautiful collection reflects the company’s motto to “Always do better than necessary. Said Chastain

About Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain has established herself as one of the finest film actresses of her generation, earning numerous award nominations and critical acclaim. In 2012, Time magazine featured her as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”.

Trained at the Julliard School in New York City, the American actress made her feature film debut in Dan Ireland’s Jolene in 2008. Since then, she has earned critical acclaim for her leading roles in many major movies including Terrence Malik’s The Tree of Life, Tate Taylor’s The Help, earning her first Academy Award nomination, John Madden’s The Debt, Take Shelter and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark 30, for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama and received her 2nd Academy Award nomination.

Her most recent box office successes came from her roles in JC Chandor’s A Most Violent Year, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination and won the National Board Of Review award for Best Supporting Actress, as well Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Interstellar. For these films in addition to Ned Benson’s The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and Liv Ullman’s Miss Julie, she was honored with the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association’s first ever Critic’s Choice MVP award. She will next be seen in Guillermo Del Toro’ latest movie Crimson Peak and Ridley Scott’s The Martian, both set for release Fall 2015.

About Piaget

It was in La Côte-aux-Fées that Georges-Edouard Piaget set up his first workshop in the family farmhouse and devoted himself to producing high-precision movements. This was back in 1874 and marked the start of an ever-growing reputation. In 1943, the company took a decision that would prove crucial to its future by registering its brand name.

Faithful to its pioneering spirit, Piaget in the late 1950s set about designing and manufacturing the ultra-thin movements that would become one of the Maison’s signatures and leave a lasting impression on watchmaking.

But Piaget was also a style: a marriage of gold and an explosion of color, new shapes, precious gems, and dials made of hard stones. Carried along on the wave of extraordinary creativity driven by Yves G. Piaget, the brand’s jewelry collection grew in an original direction with a resolute emphasis on color.

Rich of 140 years of history, the ever-bold brand, innovated by offering jewels in motion, extravagant Haute Joaillerie collections, and incredible watches to become today one of the world’s most prestigious watchmaker-jewelers.

As international Piaget brand ambassador, Jessica Chastain will make appearances at events around the world, adding pieces from Piaget’s jewelry and watch collections to her distinctive looks. By appointing an international brand ambassadress Piaget shows its commitment to jewelry and high jewelry.

Piaget has had a longstanding commitment to supporting cinema and the arts. On Saturday, February 21st, Piaget will continue to be the Premier sponsor of the Film Independent Spirit Awards for the eighth consecutive year.