Let's Talk About: Maison Piaget

Located in the Swiss Jura mountains, a small village called La-Côte-aux-Fées was the origin to the great Georges-Edouard Piaget who had embarked on the beginnings to this great timepiece. In 1874, George-Edouard Piaget had only turned 19 when he set up his very first workshop on his family’s farm. On this farm he had learned and completely emersed himself in the passion of creating high precision movements and components. He began designing a gift for his wife, however, that would soon ignite the watchmaking obsession and the founding of the Maison. Piaget evolved at the hands of Timothée Piaget, Georges-Édouard's son. He transformed the company from being a manufacturer of movements to a creator of luxury wristwatches and pocket watches. In 1943 Piaget became a registered trademark and two years later, a new larger manufacture was set up in their home of La Côte-aux-Fées, laying the groundwork for the Piaget we know today. This acceleration was carried on by the third generation of the Piaget family, Gérald and Valentin Piaget. The obsession with the ultra-thin started with Valentin Piaget, who pursued this sleek technicality to cement it as a signature of the brand. In 1957, the mechanical hand-wound 9P caliber is what brought Piaget to center stage for ultra-thin movements, causing a splash at the Basel Fair. In 1960, the journey continued with the ingenious micro-rotor concept that enabled Piaget to create the thinnest automatic movement in the world, 12P caliber This established Piaget as the reference for elegance in men’s ultra-thin watches. In 1959, the first "Salon Piaget" was launched in Geneva. It was created to be a welcoming place where Piaget could share our creativity and savoir-faire, by showing the first of Piaget’s luxury jewelry creations alongside refined timepieces. 

Geneva also became home to Piaget's ateliers that specialized in goldsmithing and gem-setting, meaning the Maison could master every aspect of the production of our fine pieces. Piaget became synonymous with elegance, luxury and "beautiful people" under the 4th generation of the family with Yves Piaget.

 Piaget events became the place to be. The relaxed elegance of the time was crafted in gold in 1979 with the Piaget Polo watch, becoming the emblem of an era of luxury and tying the brand to Polo, the sport of kings. At the end of the 20th century, Possession was the collection that allowed Piaget's spirit of freedom to flourish, with playful pieces that expressed the complete mastery of savoir-faire developed by the Maison from luxury watches to fascinating high jewelry creations, it marked the future of Piaget and brought in the new century. It also marked the birth of Altiplano, an ultra-thin watch from the collection which was renamed after the South American plateau. In 2001 Piaget also opened a new Atelier in Plan-les-Ouates, sowing the seeds for the exciting future of Piaget. 

PIAGET Men's 18K White Gold Automatic Date Wristwatch - $60K Appraisal Value