Being separated from the majority of the world by at least one ocean means that any opportunity us Down Under get to see some special watches is a welcome one – and they rarely come more special than this. Spurred on by the enthusiasm he witnessed while hosting an event centred around vintage Cartier goodness, this wonderful collection of dozens of Piaget timekeepers was curated by Antoine Bakhache, founder of the eponymous jewellery business that has long operated in South East Asia, and more recently, Australia.
Let’s jump right into the deep end, why don’t we? The poster piece for the collection is this circa 1969 Swinging Sautoir ref. 9042P61, a celebrated Piaget collection. This example presents as a combination of yellow gold with contrasting malachite inserts, wearable as either a waist-length necklace or a very swanky wrist ornament.
Speaking of wrist ornamentation – this bark-finished cuff with a tiger’s eye dial would look right at home on a red carpet.
Bridging the gap between watch and jewellery, this ref. 612775 A6 combines malachite, onyx, and diamonds on the dial, set into a two-tone white and yellow gold case housing two hand-wound movements for the dual time functionality. Sounds like a lot – and looks like it too – but it most certainly works.
My favourite, and quite fitting for an Aussie-based showcase, is this ref. 9706 with a black opal that was by far the most dazzling and dynamic stone dial we saw on the day.
Diamonds, jade, and silky golden bracelets are Piaget’s bread and butter, and these two references show the subtly different ways the brand plays with shape. On the left, the reference 9181 is a predecessor of the modern Limelight, with its array of diamonds forming an open frame around the the round jade dial. Elongating the circle into an elegant oval is the ref. 9814, also reminiscent of peak 1970s Piaget.
Have you ever seen bracelets like these? Hand-carved with round motifs, they’re made up of 12-wide rows and rows of rectangular white gold bricks, with their original shape essentially invisible from the front. Both the ref. 95788 and ref. 9781 sport onyx inserts, but the latter is even cooler given that it’s a mystery dial.
We end on an icon, which was the most difficult to take off the wrist at the end of the meeting given how well it fit me. I’m talking, of course, about the Piaget Polo, with its golden gadroons and crownless case in full 1980s glory. This “no quartz” dial is especially cool as it omits the usual text found on it, with very little to detract from the design.
