2024 marks legendary Swiss luxury maison Piaget’s 150th anniversary, and it is not keeping quiet. Kicking the celebrations off in Paris at the Napoleonic-era Palais Brongniart with the unveiling of its new high jewellery collection, titled Essence of Extraleganza (the brand’s portmanteau to describe its extravagance tempered with elegance), the collection lives up to both qualities, dazzling with its display of technical jewellery- and watch-making know-how, a glittering array of precious stones, and the establishment of a clearer design aesthetic for the house.
That aesthetic clearly harks back to the zenith of Piaget’s design creativity—the ’60s and ’70s, a brand storyteller tells us as we walk through the exhibition—and is an homage to Yves Piaget, the president of the company, who was instrumental in cementing the brand’s status among the jet set and glitterati during those decades.
Recalling its heady days of glamour, the 150th anniversary high jewellery pieces directly reflect the oeuvre of the Piaget universe from those eras: bold colour, daring creativity, masterful goldwork, dynamism, and a uniquely artistic flair. “My inspiration was around the savoir faire of the maison,” Piaget’s product design director Stéphanie Sivrière told me when we sat for an interview following the press walkthrough. “The expertise of the maison is in high jewellery and watch jewellery, and I wanted to combine the two for the collection.”
This combination can clearly be seen in one of the standout pieces that takes pride of place in the collection: a Swinging Sautoir incorporating a 29mm Manufacture quartz movement in yellow gold with turquoise dial. “For me, it’s very Piaget because it is both a necklace and a watch,” Sivrière said, pointing out the vibrant combination of green malachite and blue turquoise, the distinctive addition of a watch, and the use of precious stones like the cushion-cut aquamarine and cushion-cut yellow sapphire on the necklace.
Colour, another hallmark of Piaget, is expressed most daringly through its stones—opal, lapis lazuli, turquoise, malachite, tiger’s eye, along with the requisite diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires.
A striking instance where the brand’s matchless use of colour is on display is in an intricately wrought pink gold necklace inspired by chainmail links hung with graduated shades of trapeze-cut cornalines and brilliant-cut diamonds and round-cut sapphires. Cornalines in the right shades of orange and red took more than a year to assemble, before Sivrière and her team were able to work on it.
Something that came as a very pleasant surprise to me in the high jewellery exhibition was the inclusion of some truly fantastic pieces from Piaget’s patrimony collection. Museum-worthy pieces such as pop artist Andy Warhol’s personal Piaget timepiece, Jacqueline Kennedy’s watch featuring a jade dial, and Salvador Dalí’s highly coveted collaboration with the brand were just some memorable pieces that reinforced the brand’s rich legacy as a player among the rich and famous. It was also great fun to spot the echoes of the archival pieces and their influence on the current collection.
Capping off the celebrations, guests were whisked off to a gala dinner at Hôtel de Maisons, an 18th century hôtel particulier that once belonged to a French nobleman, and subsequently, Karl Lagerfeld, a brand executive told me. Starry members of the current Piaget Society—including global brand ambassadors Apo Nattawin (who still gamely attended the party after a bad fall at the Opéra Garnier earlier in the day) and Lee Jun-ho, as well as China brand ambassador Tong Yao, face of the brand Ella Richards, and actresses Rosamund Pike and Ellie Bamber—mingled with an international set of the good and glamorous within the ornately gilded walls of the townhouse and out on its well manicured grounds.
Following an exquisite dinner of vanilla langoustine, chicken prepared two ways and a delightful peach dessert, paired with a 2020 Mersault Grands Charron and 2016 Moulin la Lagune, the night ended on a high note with the iconic American music group Sister Sledge rallying the crowd with their top hits like He’s The Greatest Dancer and We Are Family.
“It was such an incredible night!” Richards enthused as we caught up over a quick coffee at the Hôtel Lutetia the following morning. Incredible is right—with this 150th anniversary collection, Piaget is proving that it is ready to take its turn in the limelight for a new era-defining generation.
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