It was 1969 when Piaget, which then counted the likes of Jackie Onassis, Andy Warhol and Elizabeth Taylor among its clients, unveiled a series of magnificent, bejewelled sautoir watches.

The time-telling jewels, complete with a covered or open watch dial suspended from a chain with multiple tassels or ornaments, were called “the 21st Century collection”, taking their inspiration not from the Swiss atelier but the flamboyance and experimentation of the Paris catwalk.

Today, Piaget honours this forward-thinking collection with two new sautoirs, a chance for the Swiss luxury brand once again to blur the lines between haute joaillerie and watchmaking.

One of these new sautoir watches had been updated with mesmerising malachite green details

Unveiled at the 2023 Watches and Wonders trade show in Geneva, Piaget has capitalised on the 1960s models by updating its signature oval-shaped dial in a verdant green malachite – a 25.38ct oval cabochon Zambian emerald set along a twisted gold chain to coordinate in hue. Trimmed with brilliant-cut diamonds, each chain is wholly unique, beginning as a single strand of wire, hand-coiled into gold links. A second sautoir references Piaget’s enigmatic Palace Décor, a delicate engraving technique introduced by the maison in the 1960s. Here, a gold dial is marked by sculpted grooves and contours and encased within pink gold.

Each chain is wholly unique, beginning as a single strand of wire, hand-coiled into gold links

Debuting alongside a striking new cuff watch, itself punctuated by a dreamy robin-egg blue turquoise stone dial, the new sautoirs reclaim Piaget’s position as a frontrunner in this arena, rethinking traditional watchmaking in the most joyous of ways.

POA; piaget.com