Another brand leaning hard into ’70s excess is Piaget, who’ve experienced a bold resurgence of late thanks to celebrities like Hailey Bieber, a noted fan of the house’s vintage gem-set models. At this year’s Watches & Wonders, the brand presented a whole host of eccentric timepieces. The Sixtie High Jewellery cuff – a wide rose gold cuff that fans out in layered, textured bands, each traced with diamonds, framing a glowing opal dial at its centre – beautifully evokes the decadence of the era. Closer to a statement bracelet than a classic watch, it also elegantly blurs the line between watches and jewellery entirely. There’s also a trio of “Swinging Pebbles” stone dial necklace watches, as well as a slightly more restrained Sixtie with a softly trapezoidal case recalling a late 1960s design. The latter comes with either a silvered dial or a marbled blue quartz stone dial, honouring Piaget’s ornamental stone legacy. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought these new Piagets hailed from the halcyon days of design-driven watchmaking.
Other brands innovating with stones include Rolex, the godfather of hardstone dials, who have released a new Day-Date with a light green aventurine dial paired with Jubilee Gold – a newly developed 18 karat alloy with tones of yellow, pink, and grey – softening the overall effect. Cartier introduces the spectacularly opulent Myst de Cartier – a fully sculptural, diamond-set bracelet with no visible clasp, punctuated by lacquer, onyx, and pavé. It draws directly on the Maison’s 1930s high jewellery watches created under Jeanne Toussaint, with the dial partially obscured within the composition – a confident call for the return of Art Deco cocktail watches, if ever there was.
