Extremely Piaget
Rich in novelties, 2014 is a commemorative year for the Piaget watchmaking house, which, on the occasion of its 140
th
anniversary, has invested the 27th edition of the Biennale des Antiquaires de Paris with a collection imbued with joy and freedom.
Highlighting a key period in its creative heritage, Manufacture Piaget is reinterpreting models from the 1960s and 70s, a period that revolutionized design in terms of shapes, materials and color. This festive period was exceptional for Piaget, which succeeded in seducing celebrities and artists the world over.
Irresistibly audacious for their time, these pieces have now become classics on which the Maison blows a wind of modernity. Sublimated by precious materials such as diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and gold, the eighty-eight jewels and thirty-seven watches that make up the “Extremenly Piaget” collection play on the asymmetry of the style, the fluidity of the movements and the double wear of the pieces.
Here, archival tradition gives way to a new trend with the revival of secret watches and other watchmaking parrures hitherto left by the wayside. Jewelry is no longer simply a demonstration of manufacturing prowess, but a synonym for multiple wearability, the hidden face of which is watchmaking.
Very much in evidence in the designs of the period, color takes hold of the “Extremely Colorful” line, with hard stones (lapis lazuli among them) taking over watch dials and sautoirs.
La Maisson de Haute Joaillerie’s work on this collection is captivating. High-quality, pure and intensely colored gemstones have never been used with such force and character by the master craftsmen of the Atelier Piaget.
More than 1,500 marquise-cut diamonds – the jeweler’s hallmark for over half a century – are grouped around the “Etremely Sparkling” line, whose dazzling design honors the house’s classics: cuff watches, dials, gold mesh bracelets, but also much more contemporary pieces such as ear sets. Of great visual beauty and craftsmanship, the collection dazzles with its superb technicality, making these models multi-faceted, fluid and elegant pieces of jewelry.
The Extremely Colorful collection is as intriguing for its original shapes as it is for its abundance of color.
Cabochon-cut and cushion-cut emeralds weighing over 25 carats rub shoulders with engraved rubies, cushion sapphires and hard stones such as turquoise, opal, ruby heart, jade, onyx and lapis lazuli, whose hues sublimate watch dials, cuffs, necklaces and haute joaillerie pieces.
The asymmetrical, harmoniously colored pieces are supple, like the sautoir necklace featuring a strand of pearls and turquoise assembled in a pattern of emeralds and diamonds. The unique 23-carat center stone is untreated and displays a pure, bewitching green color.
The creative freedom that emanates from these timepieces is the result of know-how perfected in the late 1950s thanks to Piaget’s ultra-flat manufactured watch movement. Carefully incorporated into the watches, it is a masterpiece of craftsmanship that does not compromise the finesse of the cases, whose dials are adorned with hard stones.
Not forgetting the technicality of Maion’s work, the collection has a different vision. The freedom of the carefree, opulent years of the 1960s and 70s is subtly reflected in supple pieces that accompany the body without weighing down the silhouette. Jewelry can be worn lightly, thanks to the articulated structure of certain sautoirs or the finesse of yellow gold damasks.
The Extremely Sparking collection sparkles with light.
Diamonds, present in profusion, testify to the genius of the House of Piaget, whose cuts – marquise, baguette, portrait, cushion, princess – blend virtuously around contemporary pieces.
Composed of marquise-cut diamonds coiled around two emeralds, the set follows the rounded lines of the neck on the front. Irresistibly feminine and sensual, the back that, wanders down the back, detaching to leave only the collar.
Offering unrivalled brilliance to diamonds, the Jupon setting – perfected by the jeweler in 1960 – makes its appearance here on a ring with a floral motif. Baguette diamonds follow one another in one or two rows, so as to reproduce the appearance of a glittering fabric in motion.
the diamond reveals all its superb beauty on the “sautoir-montre” necklace “Claudine”, the setting of which leaves you speechless. Hundreds of marquise-, brilliant-, pear- and princess-cut stones are set around a central 2-carat brilliant. Also a sautoir thanks to a pendant chain, this jewel features a clock module in a ball at the end of the chain. 26 mm openwork.
Lost between the worlds of watchmaking and jewelry, the creation is the perfect example of Piaget’s mixed know-how.
Continuing the archive work on which the Extremely Piaget collection is based, new editions of two iconic watch models that belonged to Andy Warhol and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis will soon be exhibited at the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris.
Resolutely chic and contemporary, the Maison de Haute Joaillerie et Horlogerie has once again seduced and captivated.
Olivia Baranes
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