In the 1970s, Yves Piaget, fourth-generation member of the Swiss jewellery and watchmaking family, would invite his jet-setter friends to vacation on the Mediterranean. You could run into Andy Warhol, his friend and client, Ursula Andress, his brand ambassador, or Salvador Dalí, with whom he collaborated notably on the Dalí d’Or jewellery collection. He dubbed it the “Piaget Society”.
Some 50 years later, it felt like Piaget was bringing back the concept. The house unveiled its high jewellery collection, titled ‘Shapes of Extraleganza’, in the Spanish coastal city of Barcelona. Brand ambassadors including Thai actor Nattawin Wattanagitiphat, Korean singer and actor Lee Jun-ho, Korean actor Jun Ji-hyun and British model Ella Richards, plus celebrities like Amber Valletta, turned up to the gala dinner at Seminari Conciliar de Barcelona, a neoclassical building in the city. They all grooved to the beat of ‘I Need a Dollar’ singer Aloe Blacc.
High jewellery is key to Piaget’s strategy, especially at a time when the watch sector is in a slump (Swiss wristwatch exports fell 9.7 per cent in May). “Jewellery is doing well in most areas, and haute jewellery even more so,” says Piaget CEO Benjamin Comar, who cites the Middle East, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, Europe and the US among dynamic markets. High jewellery’s ultra-wealthy clients are less affected by economic downturns, and the high jewellery segment allows Piaget to stand out with its bold aesthetic. This is helpful given the Richemont-owned brand lacks the marketing firepower of megabrands like Cartier, Tiffany, Bvlgari and Van Cleef Arpels.
The Swiss luxury jeweller and watchmaker has opted for Spain’s Catalonia region, first and foremost because of the gem of a location it found to display its collection: an architectural masterpiece built by 20th century Catalan artist Xavier Corberó. “We found this house very suited to what we wanted to say: this ’60s/’70s vibe, the shapes, the arcades, this mix of artworks and concrete, very brutalist and at the same time very sophisticated, very graphic. And we love the Mediterranean spirit at Piaget,” says Comar. (While luxury brands continue to descend in droves upon Italy this season, Spain is another popular destination: Louis Vuitton held its high jewellery event in Majorca in May and Chaumet in Marbella last week, at the same time as Piaget.)
Some 100 clients flew in last week to view — and buy — the Piaget collection. The display featured approximately 50 new pieces, including the Kaleidoscope necklace, featuring a mix of stones and pear-shaped diamonds (€1.08 million); the Wave Illusion necklace, with a red spinel and an orangy-pink version inspired by the ultra-fragola mirror, designed by the Italian Memphis collective (€1.13 million); and the Flowing Curves necklace, with a 1960s rococo-inspired style featuring a blue sapphire and lots of black opals (€1 million). (Kaleidoscope and Wave Illusion are among pieces that were sold during the first day of the event.)
When he took on the role in 2021 (after serving as head of product marketing at Cartier, head of Chanel’s watches and jewellery division and CEO of LVMH-owned fine jewellery brand Repossi) Comar asked Stéphanie Sivrière, the brand’s long-time creative director of jewellery and watches, to delve in the house archives, notably from the 1970s, when Piaget was associated with the “extravaganza” of the French and Italian Riviera, with fluid gold pendants and an abundance of diamonds.
“A collection that inspires us a lot is 1969’s ‘XXIe’ collection, where they introduced wearing a watch as a piece of jewellery, on a necklace or as a large cuff. It was a pivotal collection for Piaget,” Comar says. In the same vein, the latest collection incorporates the watch-cum-necklace, this time called Swinging Sautoir, along with lots of high watchmaking. Synergies between watches and jewellery are a key aspect of the maison: “We’ve got watchmaking and jewellery under the same roof — they talk to each other.”
CEO Benjamin Comar lays out his strategy for the Richemont-owned watch and jewellery brand, with a playbook of leaning on heritage lines, high jewellery and directly-owned stores.
The Swiss company was founded in 1874, as a maker of movements, before launching its own watches. It launched jewellery in 1959, and Richemont acquired the brand in 1988. Piaget sits within Richemont’s specialist watchmakers division, where sales decreased 13 per cent in fiscal 2025. Being a “two-headed” brand (watches and jewellery) makes Piaget somewhat better positioned than other watchmakers.
Richemont doesn’t break down the individual brand sales of its specialist watchmakers division, but according to Morgan Stanley estimates, Piaget sales reached CHF 374 million ($457 million) in 2024, of which CHF 227 million ($278 million) were generated by watches and CHF 147 million ($180 million) by jewellery — roughly a 60 per cent versus 40 per cent split. (Piaget declined to comment.)
“Piaget is a case study of a brand with strong watchmaking heritage that has expanded into jewellery with great credibility, which is a pretty rare feat,” says Oliver Müller, consultant and co-writer of Morgan Stanley’s annual report on the state of the Swiss watch industry. “It’s a brand with a true personality and its own language. Its opulent aesthetic and historic link with the Middle East — Yves Piaget would visit the region in the 1970s — is an advantage at a time when the Middle East is one of few regions firing on all cylinders, but it’s also a less consensual style than others.”
High jewellery plays a key role in boosting the jewellery business. “High jewellery serves as a way to showcase craftsmanship, to experiment with aesthetics — like a laboratory — and it’s image-making as it makes you dream,” he says.
“It’s a tool to refine your craft, to develop and improve skills,” Comar continues. For example, the brand’s Décor Palace engraving, a defining motif of Piaget’s goldwork, originates from high jewellery and was most successfully adapted to the rings and bracelets of its main line Possession, according to Comar. “So high jewellery has every virtue.”
Only production capacity can slow down its development. Like all jewellers, Piaget navigates the scarcity of artisans. “We’re ramping up on high jewellery, but then you have to make the pieces, you have to get the stones, you have to find the quality. It’s a very long process,” says Comar. “We try to space out events to regulate production and avoid production peaks.” Other ‘Shapes of Extraleganza’ showcases are planned for later this year in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Korea, with additional pieces on display.
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