Possession and Extremely Lady sound like fragrance collections, but they are actually two great new watch lines introduced by Piaget at SIHH in Geneva. Together, they are right on target for today’s ladies’ market, representing a few emerging trends in ladies’ watches. The most important of these trends is the concept of multiple options, including price. The Piaget Possession collection alone starts at $3,350 and goes all the way up to $22,400. In between, there are several options in size, finish, gem content, dial material and straps – the interchangeable strap system was one of several strap-change systems introduced among the luxury brands at SIHH. The Extremely Lady is a great example of the emerging trend in ladies’ watches toward textured gold, finished in a way that is normally reserved for jewelry. And both collections represent a trend back toward quartz watches for women, perhaps a sign of the times.
The Piaget Possession watches are meant to be companion pieces to the rings, bracelets, and pendants in the jewelry collection of the same name. The unique feature of each piece is that it incorporates a rotating ring or rings that can be turned by the wearer, just for fun – think of it as a kind of high-end fidget spinner in gold and diamonds. Piaget applies the concept to a watch collection of the same name, with bezels of the watch that rotate, not for any functional reason but for aesthetic and tactile reasons. The idea is to play with your watch.
Piaget Possession watches also taps into its capability as a maker of high end gold jewelry – and its archives – with the introduction of the Extremely Lady watch collection. The focus of the collection is the bracelet, in three different versions of textured gold. The design of the case is inspired by a model created by Piaget in the 1960s, with its iconic oval shape, mineral dial, absence of markings other than the Piaget logo and short sword hands. Jackie Kennedy Onassis famously wore a gold version with a jade dial set with diamonds and emeralds.
The gold work designs on the new collections are inspired by the company’s surroundings in the Swiss countryside. The patterns etched into the 18k pink or white gold represent wood (inspired by the lush forests around Piaget’s headquarters in la Côte-aux-Fées, Switzerland, frost (inspired by the cold winters in la Côte-aux-Fées) and fur (a wardrobe staple of the cold winter months). The 18k pink gold fur bracelet version has a mother-of-pearl dial, set with 24 brilliant-cut diamonds. The white gold fur bracelet has a lapis lazuli dial, also set with diamonds. The pink gold bracelet of the wood version has a heart of ruby dial, while the white gold wood version has an opal dial.
All movements in the Extremely Lady and Piaget Possession watches collections are quartz, which is not surprising. The main focus of these watches is decorative. Their purpose is to either showcase watchmaking’s metiers d’art or serve as everyday wear pieces with a fashion element. Fitting them with mechanical movements would constitute an unnecessary expense and, in the case of an automatic movement, would have required the designers to create a larger case, possibly at the expense of the design.