Renowned Swiss luxury watchmaker and jeweller Piaget travels back in time with the launch of its Extremely Piaget collection, reintroducing classic pieces with a modern twist. Constance Yeo highlights some iconic creations that stem from the brand’s golden era of the 1960s and ’70s
Reminiscent of piaget’s flamboyant style of the 1960s and ’70s, the French maison’s Extremely Piaget collection unveiled at the 27th Biennale des Antiquaires last September is an ode to the brilliant designs by creative designer Jean-Claude Gueit. As part of Piaget’s 140th anniversary celebration, the 125-piece collection, comprising 88 jewellery pieces and 37 watches, is a modern interpretation of the brand’s finest era of jewellery-making under the leadership of Yves Piaget.
Unlike the generations before him, Yves Piaget fully embraced the new groove of the ’60s by veering off the norm with his audacious and ostentatious designs, and mixing coloured precious stones with exquisite diamonds set in intricate creations. His bold move revolutionised Piaget’s identity; the amalgamation of the fine jewellery making and solid watchmaking engendered a host of iconic watches. He blurred the lines between horology and joaillerie, enticing a breed of famous clients including style icon Jackie O, actress Elizabeth Taylor and sex symbol Ursula Andress.
Although the new Extremely Piaget Collection clearly draws inspiration from Piaget’s golden era of the Swinging Sixties and Seventies, it is in no way a mere replica of its vintage predecessors. Focusing on colour, a signature of the house, together with precious stones and colourful hard stones, the collection will evoke nostalgia among loyal patrons of the Piaget collection, but not without a modern twist.
Aptly named Extremely Colourful, high quality diamonds are combined with brightly coloured rubies, turquoises and emeralds, interwoven with threads of gold surrounded by pops of sapphires and lapis lazuli. Turquoise and lapis lazuli were at the height of their popularity in the ’60s and ’70s, and their comeback within this collection recalls Piaget’s revolutionary period. A noteworthy creation is a spellbinding sautoir punctuated with two lapis lazuli discs, and culminating in a miniaturised watch set on a lapis lazuli dial.
The Extremely Colourful collection is exquisite with a hint of insouciance; much like how affluent youths of the ’60s and ’70s sported Piaget’s extravagant cuff watches while swaying to the Bee Gees’ music at Studio 54.
Like many design breakthroughs, technical innovation goes hand-in-hand with aesthetic beauty. Piaget’s signature slim mechanisms opened doors for thicker dials and a whole new arena of creativity by combining art and haute joaillerie. Coupling this with its expertise in ultra-thin movements, Piaget developed its classic cuff watches, of which the impeccably stylish Jackie O was a fan.
The collection’s cuff watches were in fact inspired by one of her timepieces from the ’60s—a Piaget with an oval jade dial, set with diamonds and emeralds fitted onto a bracelet made from gold mesh adorned with Piaget’s signature Palace decor (an engraving technique that makes gold surfaces look like shimmery raw silk).
The popular dentelle of the original 1970s Piaget cuffs gets a facelift in the new “slave” cuff watches; designs are updated with hand-engraved precious stones set in the heart the design. Several watches in this collection also feature hammered gold techniques, while cabled gold is used for both sautoir necklace creations as well as certain rings.
The second part of the collection is christened Extremely Sparkling, and features more than 1,500 marquise-cut diamonds, a cut that has featured in Piaget’s body of work for more than 50 years. Glistening diamonds anchor the collection and are featured extensively as centre stones in bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings and even watches.
The petticoat setting features strongly in the pieces, holding baguette-cut diamonds by prongs in one or two rows, in order to create the appearance of a moving piece of fabric. The col Claudine setting makes it possible to use several very different diamond cuts on the same piece, while highlighting each individual stone.
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