Few watchmaking concerns have been on the lips of as many collectors, casual buyers, and editors in 2024 as Piaget . Celebrating 150 years of operation, the distinctive Swiss maison has long made beautiful timepieces, but due either to the big birthday, or the emergence of the Polo 79 , or its masterfully thin Altiplano line, the small watch trend —or, more likely, all of the above— Piaget has re-emerged recently as a sheer force of nature. Indeed, it’s nearly impossible to escape the gravity of Piaget’s wares both modern and vintage, with celebrities posing with them on red carpets around the world, and collectors waxing poetic about the merits of the Polo .
And with good reason. Piaget, though it produces both beautiful watches as well as stunning jewelry , is known particularly for its artful combination of both disciplines—one in which ultra-thin movements are paired with haute joaillerie in a manner few other makers can match. On the occasion of its sesquicentennial, let’s examine together the history of this most fascinating of maisons.
In the Beginning Like many older watchmaking concerns, Piaget was founded as a family business by an enterprising young Swiss—in this case, 19-year old George-Édouard Piaget. George-Édouard set up shop in La Côte-aux-Fées, in the Swiss Jura, in 1874 and began crafting clock and pocket watch movements with skill and precision. Soon after his son Timothée took over the small concern in 1911, he expanded into wristwa.