Piaget: Watches and Wonders Since 1874 - Hardcover

Cologni, Franco; Negretti, Giampiero; Nencini, Franco

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789200783 ISBN 13: 9780789200785

Publisher: New York, New York, U.S.A.: Abbeville Pr, 1996

Synopsis

In the small Swiss town of La Cote-aux-Fees in 1874 the Piaget family began making watchworks that quickly became the preferred movements of the most prestigious watchmakers in Europe. After the end of World War II, the Piaget company built a state-of-the-art factory and captured new markets, gaining more women clients by developing ultra-thin watches. Piaget became synonymous with luxury timepieces, and in the 1960s it leaped to international fame as the company opened a showroom in Geneva and presented products embellished with precious stones. The 1970s saw the debut of ultra-thin electronic mechanisms, and in the following decade clients commissioned Piaget to create the most precious watches in the world. In 1988 Piaget joined forces with Cartier and launched the great Piaget collections for the next millennium. This lavishly illustrated volume details the unique characteristics of Piaget movements, both wind-up and automatic; the crafting of quality watches by hand and by computerized machinery, in a melding of tradition and modernity; the creation of Piaget's trademark supple watchbands woven of gold wire; the quartz revolution; and the most recent and unique commissioned creations from the house of Piaget.

About this title

About the Author:

Franco Cologni was the author (along with Ettore Mocchetti) of Objects by Cartier. Giampiero Negretti is a leading specialist of the history horology and was co-author along with Franco Nencini of Le Temps de Cartier.

From Booklist:

For snob appeal alone, this catalogue of Piaget history and products is worth the steep price. The book is actually a romance--liberally illustrated with photographs--about a four-generation family passionately devoted to luxury and quality. The authors, all journalists, document the company's beginnings, its pioneering technology, its purchase by Cartier, and the evolution of the well-cultivated mystique and image. Somewhat a hype piece, but nonetheless a tribute certain to evoke "oohs" and "aahs" from its readers. Barbara Jacobs

About this edition

• Publisher: New York, New York, U.S.A.: Abbeville Pr
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0789200783
• ISBN 13: 9780789200785
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 293