By Harlan Chapman-Green
In our recent interview in Glashütte the director of design Anthony de Haas spoke with admiration for Piaget watches. He commended their ability to make the world’s thinnest watches and it seems they’ve struck again with their new Piaget Polo S watch. Since the 50s the crown of super slim watches has been pretty much the bearer of the crown for super slim watches. Other competitors worth a mention would be Vacheron Constantin and Bulgari who have done some spectacular work not only in super thin watches but super thin complications too. However the king of super slim watchmakers is Piaget, like it or not.
One of their best models (in my opinion at least) is the Polo watch. It launched in 1979 and was a sort of cliché of the rich jet-setter of the time. Plane travel was all the rage and solid gold watches were also in fashion so Piaget definitely pulled a winner on that front, securing them a following smaller than say Rolex but they were nevertheless furiously passionate and loyal to Piaget. Of course, apart from sizes and overall styles and build quality perhaps the other biggest difference between the watch industry (and their customers) from then and now is that the Polo watch was launched with a quartz movement. At the time the 7P battery powered movement was considered a luxury due to the dead accuracy of the watch over the silly mechanical watches other less stylish rich people wore.
Enough of the history lesson, although it is fascinating in-depth I’d like to mention the equally fascinating new Polo S watch. It’s coming to us in a new metal combination, steel. As I’ve mentioned the Polo watch was formed out of pure gold and has stood the test of time in that metal only. Sadly, though, the times have changed and although there are a lot more rich people who will happily spend their cash, let’s be honest the nouveau riche as it were would much rather a huge golden Audemars Piguet or a vile diamond-encrusted Patek Philippe that they can gloat about on Instagram than something sleek and beautifully designed watches such as a Breguet or a Piaget in this case. The good thing is that Piaget can communicate more intimately with that devoted audience I mentioned, in this case, they wanted a steel watch which was delivered in a subtle cushion-shaped case.
The delicate appearance of the bracelet will most definitely be backed up by a strength in the feel of the bracelet. Like Patek’s Nautilus model, the bracelet appears ‘weaker’ than other sports watches but when you hold it the handmade links just feel so right. Keeping along those lines of hand made finesse the movement inside the Piaget Polo S collection both time only and chronograph models come with in-house made movements, the 1110P three hand movement is 9.4mm thick and a date at 6 O’clock. The chronograph version, reference 1160P, features the same date window at 6 O’clock but also has the two chronograph subdials on as well. The attractive pricing of these models at $9350 for the three-hander and $12,400 for the chrono makes it more appealing to those who can’t spend the money rivals Patek Philippe demand for their Nautilus. Remember you’re not ‘settling’ for a Piaget instead of a Patek, it leads you down a whole new path which might end up with the purchase of an award-winning Altiplano watch, and that’s not a bad thing in any universe. For more info, please visit piaget.com
