There are few finer expressions of horological art than that of ‘skeletonisation’ – the intricate reduction of dials and movements to their bare minimum in order to reveal the true, beating heart of a watch in all its mechanical glory.
The first Piaget skeleton watches were made during the 1970s and, as with many of the Maison’s creations, they immediately attracted a high-profile following. One of the most noted early adopters was the jazz trumpet legend Miles Davis who always turned-up to appearances with a brief case containing a selection of time-pieces, including Piaget watches, choosing his ‘watch of the night’ just before he took to the stage. And fittingly for a man known for the intri-cacy and innovation of his playing, a gold Piaget skeleton could often be seen on his wrist during major performances.
And since Piaget has long been renowned for creating mechanisms of exceptional slimness, it set-out to marry its two signature disciplines by developing calibres that were both exquisitely thin and meticulously skeletonised, setting multiple records along the way by unveiling the thinnest skeleton movements the world had ever seen, variously incorporating tourbillons, moonphase displays, exquisite enamelling, diamond settings and automatic winding.
Announcing the Piaget Polo, the groundbreaking luxury sports watch first created by Piaget in 1979. In order to successfully develop the Piaget Polo Skeleton, Piaget’s designers and engineers had to consider the key aspects of the Piaget Polo that have made it instantly recognizable – notably its curved case surmounted by a round bezel, its cushion-shaped dial opening and its slim profile.
Nothing short of a wearable work of art – a 42mm steel-cased sports watch measuring just 6.5mm thick and powered by Piaget’s 1200S1 self-win-ding, manufacture movement – entirely developed and produced in-house – which is a wafer-like 2.4mm thin.
