The Piaget Andy Warhol watch debuts a new design interpretation, featuring a stunning Clou de Paris pattern on the case and a powerful blue meteorite dial.
Created in 1972 and produced for less than a decade before its revival in 2014, this elegant masterpiece is today synonymous with the artist and cultural icon, Andy Warhol (1928-1987). A friend of the Maison, who was a key member of the Piaget Society, Andy Warhol owned no less than seven Piaget watches.
But among this eclectic collection, the watch that he is most associated with is the era-defining Beta21 movement, previously named the Black Tie watch. With its daring and bold 45mm-diameter cushion-shape case, which is elegantly ringed with signature gadroons, the design has become a collector reference – coveted by watch enthusiasts all over the world.
Thanks to an official new collaboration under license with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Piaget and the Foundation have formally renamed the timepiece: the Andy Warhol watch. The first watch celebrating this exciting union is a new and contemporary design interpretation: the Andy Warhol Clou de Paris watch. Featuring a shimmering Clou de Paris finish on the case, the launch is further complemented by Piaget’s enhanced Made to Order personalisation service, inviting collectors to create their very own Andy Warhol watch.
“We are deeply honoured and delighted by the trust that the Andy Warhol Foundation is showing in Piaget, highlighting the deep and sincere relationship between the Maison and Andy Warhol. A new dawn for this very unique timepiece, beloved by all.”
Benjamin Comar, CEO, Piaget
One of horology’s most refined and elegant decorative techniques, Clou de Paris – also known as hobnail – is a guilloché motif featuring a jewellery-like pattern of small, pyramid-like squares. The decoration is firmly a part of Piaget’s DNA and adorned its most stylish watches in the 1970s, from round to shaped designs. Reminiscent of the original signature gadroons, the challenge lay in the watch’s cushion-shaped case. Not only did the Clou de Paris pattern has to be meticulously hand-finished on a curved, rather than flat, surface, it also had to achieve the same subtle layering, wondrous play of light and alluring artistry of the original gadroons.
Complementing this finish is a one-of-a-kind blue meteorite dial. Featuring a powerful hue and unique reflection, the meteorite nods to Piaget’s signature in designing with ornamental stones and is a distinctive material that the Maison has reserved for extraordinary creations.
With its new Clou de Paris decoration and bold vintage identity – and powered by the in-house 501P1 Manufacture self-winding movement –the new Andy Warhol watch Clou de Paris feels like a natural part of the collection.
In 1973, Andy Warhol acquired his Piaget Black Tie watch, adding to the six other Piaget timepieces that he owned (four of which are today part of Piaget’s Private Collection). Andy Warhol became an authentic friend of the Maison, having met Yves Piaget in 1979 in New York. The pair developed a close bond, with Andy Warhol a regular member of the Piaget Society, travelling with Yves Piaget to glamorous events hosted in New York and Palm Beach. Both were also frequently spotted among the beau monde at the likes of Studio 54 and Chez Régine. In 1983, Yves Piaget was profiled in Interview magazine, the publication Warhol founded in 1969, featuring a discussion with the young artist and gallery owner Robert Lee Morris.
Andy Warhol truly embodies the spirit of Piaget and Piaget Society. His unique and historic friendship with Yves Piaget has now been recognised by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
“The Andy Warhol Foundation is delighted to celebrate the bond between Warhol and Piaget through an eponymous watch with an ethos as timeless, iconic, and singular as its namesake.”
Michael Dayton Hermann, Director of Licensing, Marketing, and Sales at The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
For more information please visit Piaget