Swinging Sixties Style: The International English Edition
Following its 150th anniversary celebrations last year, Piaget proceeds to explore its extensive history with a classic design from the late 1960s serving as inspiration for an entirely new series of timepieces.
The 21st Century collection, showcased at the yearly Basel Fair in 1969, featured extravagant gold-chain sautoirs complete with pendant watches, offering an innovative and fashionable method of telling time.
Piaget”s futuristic design project even included a silhouette similar to the Trapeze designed by Yves Saint Laurent for Christian Dior in 1958.
By the midpoint of the third decade in the 21st century, the Maison of Extraleganza has revamped its trapeze design aesthetic for the Sixtie line, which was debuted at Watches and Wonders Geneva in 2025.
The title for the new line could relate to time, since 60 seconds compose a minute and 60 minutes constitute an hour.
More importantly, this represents an homage to the 1960s era when third-generation Valentin and Gerald Piaget led the company, with Yves, the elder Piaget’s grandson, also becoming involved.
Valentin orchestrated the creation of ultrathin movements and introduced Piaget’s inaugural haute joaillerie collection in the past ten years.
By the late 1960s, his concept for jewelry watches led to the creation of Piaget’s Creative Studio. The studio’s design team was dispatched to Paris with the task of observing fashion trends at runway events and using those inspirations to develop timepieces and accessories that would enhance haute couture looks.
The team, featuring renowned watchmaker Jean-Claude Gueit, frequently drew on pages ripped from fashion magazines. As a result, their creations emerged as intricate openwork cuffs, elongated swing necklaces, manually textured gold bracelets, and various bold accessories.
In the resulting 21st-century collection, Piaget reinvented a timepiece as more than just a practical accessory; it became a stylish, trendsetting objet d’art.
Furthermore, the cases and dials strayed from circularity, showcasing the maison’s Play Of Shapes design philosophy. This approach included unconventional forms such as ovals, dramatically elongated rectangles, and striking trapezoidal shapes.
Yves Piaget introduced this cutting-edge collection, reflecting his belief that a Piaget watch should primarily be seen as an exquisite jewelry piece.
During the 1970s, the Play of Shapes concept was embodied through jewelry watches available in various geometric forms like squares, octagons, hexagons, or the distinctive trapezoidal shape. These designs also included innovative combinations, such as merging a square with a circle, or transforming an oval into an elliptical form.
In 2025, the unconventional style makes a comeback with the Sixties jewelry watches. These timepieces boast a distinctive design that seems to morph from trapeze-shaped to square, circular, or cushion-like forms. The flexible bracelet complements this look with its trapezoid-inspired chain links.
The ornamental ridges on the bezel echo the carved edges of the Piaget 14101 quartz watch from the 1970s.
The bracelet and bezel notably showcase the maison’s expertise in goldsmithing, honed at Les Ateliers de l’Extraordinaire situated just outside of Geneva in Plan-les-Ouates.
Additional design features consist of baton-shaped hands, hour indicators, Roman numerals, and a Piaget emblem positioned at the 3 o’clock mark on the satin-brushed face.
Equipped with the Piaget 57P quartz movement, the Sixtie is available in stainless steel, rose gold, or a blend of both materials, along with diamond-encrusted variants.
Recently, global ambassador Nattawin “Apo” Wattanagitiphat wore a rose-gold Sixtie during the Play of Shapes dinner event at the Champagne Bar of Waldorf Astoria Bangkok.
Although intended for women with a diameter of 29mm and 25.3mm, the stylish Thai actor demonstrated how men can embrace self-expression through choosing more modest-sized options instead of larger ones.
Provided by Syndigate Media Inc. (
Syndigate.info
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