PIAGET

Piaget is a Swiss luxury watchmaking and jewellery house whose history began in 1874, when Georges Edouard Piaget established a workshop on his family farm in La Côte-aux-Fées in the Swiss Jura. The business initially specialized in high-precision watch and clock movements, supplying components and mechanisms before progressively developing watches under the Piaget name. Its origins in movement manufacturing remain central to the brand's identity, particularly its long association with exceptionally thin mechanical calibres. The company moved toward wristwatches during the early twentieth century. In 1911, Georges Piaget's son Timothée assumed responsibility for the family firm and directed its focus toward wristwatch production. During the 1940s, the founder's grandsons Gérald and Valentin Piaget, supported by sales director Camille Pilet, expanded the enterprise and developed a more outward-facing luxury brand. Piaget registered its trademark in 1943 and opened a new factory at La Côte-aux-Fées in 1945, allowing it to manufacture and market its own creations more extensively. Piaget's defining technical breakthrough came in 1957 with the hand-wound Calibre 9P, a 2-millimetre movement that established the house as a leading specialist in ultra-thin watchmaking. The company followed it with the automatic Calibre 12P in 1960. These movements enabled elegant, low-profile watches and supported Piaget's distinctive use of unconventional forms, decorative dials, and precious materials. During the same period, the brand expanded beyond conventional timepieces into coin watches, ring watches, brooch watches, cufflink watches, and jewellery. It also introduced dials made from materials such as lapis lazuli, turquoise, onyx, and tiger's eye. Piaget's product identity broadened significantly from the 1960s through the 1980s. The brand responded to the quartz crisis with the Calibre 7P in 1976, while retaining a strong mechanical and jewellery orientation. The Piaget Polo, introduced in 1979, became one of its best-known sports-luxury watches. Yves Piaget assumed the presidency in 1980, and the company launched further collections including Dancer in 1986. In 1988, the luxury group Vendôme, the predecessor of Richemont, acquired Piaget, bringing the family-founded manufacture into a larger international luxury portfolio while preserving its specialist positioning. The 1990s brought a broad collection strategy. Piaget introduced or developed lines such as Possession, Tanagra, Limelight, and Miss Protocole, while the Emperador was relaunched in 1999 as a major pillar of the men's watch offering. In the early twenty-first century, the company consolidated its watch and jewellery expertise in a new haute horlogerie manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates near Geneva. Opened in 2001, the facility brought together more than 40 watchmaking and jewellery professions, while movement production continued at the historic La Côte-aux-Fées site. In 2002, Piaget presented the Calibre 600P, a particularly thin flying tourbillon movement. The Altiplano collection continues Piaget's ultra-thin tradition. In 2014, the house introduced the manually wound Altiplano 900P, measuring 3.65 millimetres and integrating elements of the movement and case architecture to achieve an unusually slim profile. Piaget has also continued to combine technical watchmaking with gem-setting, decorative arts, and high jewellery, positioning its products at the intersection of engineering, design, and luxury ornamentation. Its jewellery and watch collections are distributed through boutiques, authorized retail channels, and international markets under Richemont ownership. The brand marked its 150th anniversary in 2024.

Piaget began in 1874 when Georges-Édouard Piaget established a workshop at La Côte-aux-Fées in the Swiss Jura. The location placed the company within the region’s established watchmaking ecosystem, and its early business centered on producing precise mechanical movements and components. For decades, Piaget was particularly recognized as a specialist supplier whose movements were used in watches assembled by other firms. The company’s later development was driven by a decision to combine movement expertise with a stronger consumer-facing identity. Thinness became an important technical and aesthetic signature. Piaget’s 9P manual-winding caliber, introduced in 1957, measured approximately 2 mm thick and demonstrated that a refined mechanical movement could be made exceptionally slim without abandoning traditional watchmaking principles. The automatic 12P, introduced soon afterward, extended this approach. These achievements helped establish Piaget as a specialist in elegant dress watches and in movements that could be integrated into jewelry-like cases. During the 1960s and 1970s, Piaget broadened its creative vocabulary. The maison used gold, diamonds, hard stones, textured surfaces, and unusual dial materials in watches that reflected the period’s interest in color and decorative craft. It also developed a more substantial jewelry business. This combination of technical watchmaking and ornamental design became a defining feature of the brand. The Polo watch, launched in 1979, expressed Piaget’s move toward a sportier form of luxury. Its integrated-looking construction and horizontal case-and-bracelet design made it recognizable while preserving the maison’s emphasis on precious metal and finishing. Polo subsequently became a platform for mechanical complications, modern materials, jewelry versions, and later reinterpretations. Piaget’s jewelry collections developed alongside its watch lines. Possession introduced a playful rotating-ring concept and became one of the house’s enduring signatures. Limelight collections emphasized glamorous silhouettes, while Piaget Rose drew on the rose as a recurring design motif. High jewelry allowed the maison to showcase rare stones, elaborate settings, and one-off craftsmanship beyond the constraints of regular production. In 1988, Piaget joined the Richemont group, giving the maison access to the resources and international structure of a major luxury conglomerate while preserving its own brand identity. The business continued to invest in watchmaking, jewelry design, boutiques, servicing, and global communications. Its ultra-thin tradition was renewed in later technical projects, including the Altiplano Ultimate Concept, presented as an extreme expression of thin mechanical watch construction. In the 2010s and 2020s, Piaget’s public-facing strategy increasingly connected heritage craftsmanship with fashion, celebrity, social media, high jewelry launches, and lifestyle imagery. The 2014 “Perfection in Life” campaign placed Piaget creations against global cityscapes and invited user participation through Instagram. In 2021, the maison adopted social-advertising technology to coordinate personalized campaigns across multiple markets. From 2022, communications leadership focused on making the heritage more relevant to younger and broader international audiences. Recent campaign activity has continued to support Possession, Polo, high jewelry, anniversary storytelling, and the maison’s broader themes of color, movement, extravagance, and elegance.

• 2024

  150th-anniversary campaign activity

  [6]Piaget campaign archivemodels.com

  Piaget’s campaign listings documented anniversary communications and related watch and jewelry creative.

• 2021

  Social advertising partnership

  [4]Piaget and Smartly.io partnershipbusinesswire.com

  Piaget partnered with Smartly.io to coordinate and personalize social advertising in 15 markets.

• 2014

  “Perfection in Life” global campaign

  [2]Piaget unveils “Perfection in Life” global campaignbusinesswire.com

  The maison launched a global campaign linking its watches and jewelry with inspiring international locations and social participation.

• 1988

  Piaget joins Richemont

  [7]Piaget joins Richemontrichemont.com

  Piaget became part of the Richemont luxury group.

• 1979

  Polo watch introduced

  [1]Piaget official websitepiaget.com

  Piaget launched the Polo, a sports-luxury watch that became one of its most recognizable product families.

• 1957

  Introduction of the 9P ultra-thin movement

  [1]Piaget official websitepiaget.com

  Piaget presented its approximately 2 mm-thick manual-winding 9P caliber, strengthening its reputation for thin mechanical watchmaking.

• 1874

  Piaget workshop established in La Côte-aux-Fées

  [1]Piaget official websitepiaget.com

  Georges-Édouard Piaget founded the watchmaking workshop that became the Piaget maison.

A Swiss haute horlogerie and fine-jewelry maison positioned around ultra-thin watchmaking, precious materials, expressive design, craftsmanship, and glamorous contemporary luxury.

• Ultra-thin watches

  Altiplano

  Altiplano is Piaget’s principal ultra-thin watch family. It expresses the maison’s historical movement expertise through restrained cases, slim profiles, refined dials, and versions ranging from traditional manual-winding watches to technically ambitious mechanical models.

• Luxury watches and jewelry · 1979

  Polo

  Polo began in 1979 as a precious-metal sports-luxury watch and became a durable Piaget design code. The family has expanded across automatic and complication-equipped watches, contemporary executions, and matching jewelry, balancing a recognizable integrated form with the maison’s decorative materials and finishing.

• Fine jewelry and watches

  Possession

  Possession is built around circular forms and movable, rotating rings. The collection includes rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and watches, with the turning mechanism serving as both a tactile feature and a metaphor for movement, independence, and personal expression.

• Fine jewelry and watches

  Limelight

  Limelight is a glamorous Piaget collection spanning jewelry and watches. Its designs use sculptural curves, precious stones, and formal or asymmetrical compositions to support evening wear, red-carpet styling, and the maison’s broader emphasis on expressive luxury.

• Fine jewelry

  Piaget Rose

  Piaget Rose translates the rose flower into rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and related creations. The line uses layered petals, goldwork, diamonds, and colored gemstones to create a recognizable botanical signature while retaining the maison’s preference for fluid, tactile forms.

• Haute joaillerie

  High Jewelry

  Piaget’s high-jewelry creations are limited or one-of-a-kind works built around exceptional gemstones, diamonds, precious metals, and elaborate hand finishing. Seasonal narratives such as Metaphoria and Solstice provide thematic settings for pieces that demonstrate the maison’s jewelry craftsmanship and color expertise.

• 2024Piaget 150

  International

  Anniversary campaign activity marked Piaget’s 150-year heritage through fashion-led imagery and storytelling around the maison’s watches and jewelry.

  Outcome. The anniversary provided a platform for connecting historical legitimacy with contemporary brand communication.

  Source
• 2024Possession Jewellery

  International

  The Possession campaign focused on the collection’s rotating forms and styling flexibility through contemporary photography and models from the international fashion community.

  Outcome. It kept Possession prominent as a signature jewelry franchise for a younger and globally oriented audience.

  Source
• 2023High Jewelry Metaphoria

  International

  The Metaphoria high-jewelry campaign used editorial photography and a strong fashion image to present elaborate jewelry creations and Piaget’s use of color and precious materials.

  Outcome. It strengthened the maison’s high-jewelry and fashion credentials.

  Source
• 2022Piaget campaign joy

  International

  A fashion-oriented campaign used contemporary casting and imagery to communicate joy and the expressive side of Piaget’s jewelry and watches.

  Outcome. It supported the maison’s effort to refresh its image and broaden its emotional appeal.

  Source
• 2022Piaget Society Campaign

  International

  The Piaget Society campaign presented the maison through a community and lifestyle lens, connecting its products with a broader network of clients, creatives, and cultural associations.

  Outcome. The campaign reinforced relationship-led luxury communication rather than relying only on product advertising.

  Source
• 2014Perfection in Life

  Global

  Created by BETC Luxe and photographed by Maud Rémy-Lonvis, the campaign placed Piaget watches and jewelry against recognizable night-time skylines including New York, Paris, and London. It also encouraged Instagram users to share images of their own cities.

  Outcome. The campaign extended Piaget’s established association with perfection, international glamour, technical expertise, and precious materials.

  Source

• 2022

  Renewed global brand-image programStrategy

  Background

  Piaget wanted to make its heritage and distinctive reasons to believe more relevant to a new generation of consumers.

  Action taken

  Under refreshed communications leadership, the maison emphasized iconic product campaigns, heritage, distinction, and broader international cultural relevance.

  Aftermath

  Subsequent campaign activity continued to foreground Polo, Possession, high jewelry, fashion imagery, and lifestyle storytelling.

  Source

• 2021

  Modernization of social advertising operationsStrategy

  Background

  Piaget sought more efficient, scalable, and locally adaptable digital advertising across international markets.

  Action taken

  The maison partnered with Smartly.io to support creative automation, personalization, campaign delivery, and reporting on major social platforms in 15 markets.

  Aftermath

  The decision formalized a more data-enabled approach to luxury social marketing while retaining tightly controlled brand presentation.

  Source

• 1988

  Joining the Richemont groupM&A

  Background

  Piaget was moving within an increasingly consolidated international luxury industry.

  Action taken

  Piaget became part of Richemont, the luxury group led by Compagnie Financière Richemont SA.

  Aftermath

  The maison gained the backing and international platform of a major luxury group while continuing to operate under its own name.

  Source

• 1979

  Launch of the Polo watchProduct launch

  Background

  Piaget was extending beyond conventional dress-watch codes and seeking a modern sports-luxury expression.

  Action taken

  It introduced the Polo, a precious-metal watch with a distinctive integrated-looking design.

  Aftermath

  Polo became a signature franchise that later expanded into complications, new materials, and jewelry.

  Source

• 1957

  Commitment to ultra-thin mechanical movementsGeneration change

  Background

  Piaget had established expertise in movement manufacturing and sought a stronger technical signature in finished watches.

  Action taken

  The maison introduced the approximately 2 mm-thick manual-winding 9P caliber and used thinness as a central product and brand differentiator.

  Aftermath

  Ultra-thin watchmaking became one of Piaget’s most durable technical associations and later supported the Altiplano family.

  Source

• 2024

  Piaget presents the Possession 2024 campaign[6]Piaget campaign archivemodels.com

  Campaign

  The Possession campaign used fashion-oriented imagery to present the collection’s rotating forms and versatility.

• 2024

  Piaget marks its 150th anniversary with new campaign activity[6]Piaget campaign archivemodels.com

  Campaign · Other

  Campaign listings documented anniversary-focused creative work alongside communications for Piaget’s jewelry and watch collections.

• 2024

  Piaget celebrates its 150th anniversary[8]伯爵庆祝150周年en.wikipedia.org

  Other · Campaign

  The house marked 150 years since its founding in La Côte-aux-Fées, highlighting its movement-making heritage, ultra-thin watchmaking, jewellery, and long-term Swiss manufacturing identity.

• 2022

  Fatti Laleh takes charge of Piaget’s global communications and image[5]Fatti Laleh charged with making Piaget desirable to a new generationforbes.com

  Leadership change

  Piaget appointed veteran luxury-marketing executive Fatti Laleh to help refresh the maison’s image and communicate its heritage to a new generation of international consumers.

• 2021

  Piaget partners with Smartly.io for social advertising[4]Piaget and Smartly.io partnershipbusinesswire.com

  Other

  The Richemont maison selected Smartly.io to support creative automation, delivery optimization, personalization, and reporting for social advertising across 15 international markets.

• 2018

  Piaget receives an upper-midfield environmental assessment[8]伯爵庆祝150周年en.wikipedia.org

  Regulation · Other

  A World Wide Fund for Nature assessment placed Piaget third among 15 Swiss watch and jewellery manufacturers and rated it Upper Midfield, while noting broader industry concerns about material sourcing and transparency.

• 2014

  Piaget launches the global “Perfection in Life” campaign[2]Piaget unveils “Perfection in Life” global campaignbusinesswire.com

  Campaign

  Piaget introduced an international advertising campaign pairing watches and jewelry with recognizable city skylines and inviting consumers to share city images on Instagram.

• 2014

  Piaget presents the Altiplano 900P[8]伯爵庆祝150周年en.wikipedia.org

  Product launch · Product generation

  Piaget introduced the manually wound Altiplano 900P, a 3.65-millimetre mechanical watch that extended the brand's historical pursuit of ultra-thin construction.

1. 1Piaget official websitepiaget.com
2. 2Piaget unveils “Perfection in Life” global campaignbusinesswire.com
3. 3New ads for Piaget highlight life’s ‘perfection’nationaljeweler.com
4. 4Piaget and Smartly.io partnershipbusinesswire.com
5. 5Fatti Laleh charged with making Piaget desirable to a new generationforbes.com
6. 6Piaget campaign archivemodels.com
7. 7Piaget joins Richemontrichemont.com
8. 8伯爵庆祝150周年en.wikipedia.org
9. 9Piaget partners with Winter at Tantora festivalarabnews.com