We are trying to open the link for you. If it doesn’t open shortly please allow ‘pop-up’ windows for www.jumeirah.com. Alternatively you can ‘right click’ on the link and choose to open it in a new tab or window.
The Jumeirah Digital Team

Forgot Password

Join Now

Book Now

Magazine

Fashion

Forever Fashion Hollywood Princess Standing the Test of Time The Gentleman's Club One of a Kind

Standing the Test of Time

For many serious watch collectors, Piaget is a horological leader.

Though relatively niche when compared to some of its fellow Richemont-owned monoliths, the Piaget story is, like its watches, a fine one.

Founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget, the watchmaker and jewellery manufacturer has successfully elbowed its way into the highly crowded and competitive horology space. Many watch-wearing enthusiasts believe it was Piaget’s development of the world’s thinnest automatic movement in 1960 that paved the way for international recognition. Others believe it was the brand’s refusal to diversify into other product areas that helped position them as a serious watchmaking contender.

Nevertheless, since Piaget’s son, Timothée Piaget, took over the business in 1911 and registered the brand in 1943, at the recommendation of Piaget’s grandsons Gérald and Valentin, it has gone on to break records, pioneer new movements and start new trends.

The decade after its registration saw Piaget proclaim its decision to produce watches made only from gold and platinum, thus earning the brand a place among Switzerland’s watchmaking elite. That same decade Piaget expanded its line to women’s and men’s jewellery.

In the 1960s, it continued to ruffle feathers with the development of the slimmest self-winding movement, the calibre 12P, which entered The Guinness Book of Records in 1960. By 1966 production levels reached 10,000 pieces.In the 1970s the company broke the mould once again by creating the world’s thinnest quartz movement. And while business was going well, in the 1980s it was acquired by Cartier, to later become a part of luxury goods conglomerate the Richemont Group.The 1990s saw the calibres 430P and 500P replace the historic 9P and 12P, respectively, while the noughties celebrated the inauguration of Piaget’s second manufacturing hub in 2001, the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Piaget near Geneva.

More recently, in 2011, Piaget went where it vowed never to go before: to launch a special collection of watches just in time for January’s SIHH. In December last year it announced the release of its 24-piece Dragon and Phoenix collection in celebration of the Chinese New Year. The launch was a direct result of Piaget’s growing client base in China, which currently drives around two thirds of its business. Commanding 1,600 hours of jewellery crafting and 600 hours of gem- setting, the collection has certainly turned heads.

Above images from left to right: Altiplano, Dragon and Phoenix collection

Piaget Story

“We want the product to be creative, contemporary and classic. And you can be creative, contemporary and classic altogether. On men the watches are thin but elegant, for women we are a bit more creative.”

Speaking to Jumeirah magazine at Piaget’s base in Geneva, Philippe Léopold-Metzger, chief executive officer, says the one-off collection is purely commemorative. “We are not going to make a special series every day there is an anniversary. We made an exception and we treated it in quite a magnificent way. The big market for us today is China.The level of growth is almost exponential.”

While launching a special collection sits outside Piaget’s usual business strategy, the watches certainly fall within the brand’s DNA. “From the design point of view, whenever we produce a piece of jewellery or a watch we use the three ‘C’ principles,” says Léopold-Metzger. “We want the product to be creative, contemporary and classic. And you can be creative, contemporary and classic altogether. On men the watches are thin but elegant, for women we are a bit more creative.”

Those familiar with Piaget know it combines a broad range of textures to bring the watch to life. It mixes classic and modern finishes with simple and slender design perfectly. And for Piaget, the movement really is the soul of the watch, the case its costume and the dial a mirror of its personality.

Materials such as rose gold, white gold, alligator leather and diamonds are promininet in most collections, while its jewellery rarely dips below 18-carat gold, with an emphasis on emeralds, tourmalines, pearls and sapphires.

With the new year in full swing, and two of the industry’s biggest exhibitions around the corner, Léopold-Metzger has big plans. Starting with market expansion. Piaget’s first Abu Dhabi store is set to open at the beginning of 2012, with its first boutique in Saudi Arabia due in April. Léopold-Metzger says: “In the Middle East, we could expand. It is about 5 per cent of business today for Piaget worldwide and historically it was much more. In Lebanon we have no stores but it could be an opportunity. We are opening in Jeddah and I think we need to open in Riyadh too.We would love to have a store in Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates and a second store in Abu Dhabi.”

Piaget’s figures back up Léopold-Metzger’s bold plans. Sales are expected to reach 22,000 in 2011, crossing the 30,000-unit thresholdby year-end 2012.

So as watchmakers around the world prepare for January’s SIHH and the Basel World fair in March, it seems Piaget is slightly ahead of time.