In the golden glow of Paris, amidst the elegance and energy unique to the city, Piaget set the stage for a celebration of daring creativity and haute horlogerie unlike any other. The Maison’s latest High Jewellery collection, Shapes of Extraleganza, invigorates the senses, weaving the stories of shapes, colour, and movement into a modern masterpiece. Each piece embodies the Maison’s audacious spirit, rooted in the iconic creative boom of the 1960s and ‘70s, transforming the very nature of artistry in watchmaking and jewellery.
Piaget’s journey through the labyrinth of art and design has never been a static one—the Maison continuously breathes renewed life into its archives. Shapes of Extraleganza continues its trilogy, following the preceding Essence of Extraleganza, delving deep into the tides of creativity that defined the mid-20th century. Drawing inspiration from legendary collaborations, with artists such as Salvador Dalí and Arman, and collectors like Andy Warhol, the collection evokes the character of the Piaget Society—those elite circles where creativity was cultivated in friendship and partnership.
The 1969 launch of Piaget’s 21st Century Collection marked a pivotal moment, as the Maison boldly redefined the limits between horology and jewellery art. The now-iconic trapeze form, reminiscent of Yves Saint Laurent’s trapeze dress, forms the nucleus of this year’s generation, standing as a bridge between past innovation and the vibrancy of the present.
The creative fervour is best embodied in the daring designs and technical prowess of each piece in the collection. Piaget’s artisans have transformed the traditional landscape of high jewellery, fusing forms and colours in a choreographed ballet of technique and artistry. The Kaleidoscope Lights suite dazzles with its Op Art-inspired mosaics, striped with ornamental stones such as chrysoprase, verdite, sodalite, sugilite, rhodonite, rhodochrosite, turquoise, and “Ruby root” or ruby-zoisite. These minerals, each carefully carved into curved slices of variable thickness, are set into sunburst dials and linear, vibrant compositions that display an extraordinary command of lapidary work.
The Flowing Curves suite tells a tale of organic opulence, featuring rare black opals nestled within hand-hammered white gold, sculpted using an innovative technique that builds on Piaget’s famed Decor Palace finish. The dialogue between brilliant texture and the opal’s play of colour is striking, each piece evoking the fluid contours of Switzerland’s dramatic landscapes while integrating goldsmithing skills developed over decades.
Other suites within the collection take their cues from pop culture and historic design icons. Wave Illusion introduces a spectrum of red and orangy-pink spinels, each set with a joyful abandon reminiscent of the Memphis movement’s naïve geometric exuberance. The Curved Artistry set features sun-yellow sapphires and a hidden watch dial beneath a translucent aquamarine cabochon, reviving one of Piaget’s most cherished motifs: the secret ring watch.
Arty Pop and Gleaming Shapes reveal Colombian emeralds aglow with saturated colour, and Joyful Twirls entices with cuff watches arrayed in pavé-set sapphires or spessartite garnets, their wide, fluid bracelets made possible by Piaget’s pioneering ultra-thin self-winding movement. Every piece is a symphony of visual and tactile delight, where the precision of the settings and the delicacy of the forms invite reverent admiration.
Central within this spectacle is Endless Motion, the collection’s pièce de résistance—a table clock sculpted as a kinetic mobile. Crafted in collaboration with the artist Alex Palenski, its black opal dial nestles off-centre within an elliptical gold frame, finished in Decor Palace engraving. Mobile branches set with organic-shaped ornamental stones extend outward, each component precisely balanced to achieve perfect movement. Even the base, sculpted from pietersite, verdite, and sodalite, grounds the piece firmly in the natural world, shimmering with the same energy that pulses through all of Piaget’s creations.
Conquering Paris with Extraleganza
Paris, July 7, 2025—the Hôtel Mona Bismark set an enchanting scene for the unveiling of Piaget’s new Sixtie jewellery watch and the latest chapter in the saga of Shapes of Extraleganza. Friends of the Maison, including the likes of Ella Richards and Brigitte Niedermair, mingled amid the warmth of an exclusive dinner, where the heritage and future of Piaget were celebrated in true style. The debut of the Sixtie, with its soft yet assertive trapeze-shaped case, was a heartfelt homage to the creative tumult of the 1960s, recalling a time when the Piaget family dared to redraw the very definition of the jewellery watch.
Guests immersed themselves in the vibrant atmosphere, where British singer Nieve Ella lent her voice to an afterparty that glimmered with joie de vivre. The new timepieces—effortlessly transitioning from wristwatches to objets d’art—stood as witness to the Maison’s ongoing embrace of innovation and sophistication, embodying the ethos of joyous living that defines Piaget’s legacy.
Beauty and Traditions
In the tapestry of Piaget’s heritage, beauty is not a matter of ornamentation but of transformation—each stone, each crafted gold segment, a dialogue between history and the pulse of the present. There is an unwavering confidence in embracing innovation without forsaking the codes of refinement, a reflection of the Maison’s century-and-a-half devotion to “doing what has never been done before.” From the meticulous mastery of goldsmithing to the sophisticated interplay of colour and light, Piaget’s creations do not simply adorn but inspire awe, offering a glimpse into a world where artistry transcends the everyday.
Tradition and contemporary artistry are not opposing forces here—they waltz together through every suite, every timepiece, every swirling, kinetic form. With Shapes of Extraleganza and the celebrations it inspired in Paris, Piaget affirms its place at the summit of High Jewellery, where the unexpected is embraced, and beauty is both an inheritance and an ever-unfolding promise
