The one millionth watch bearing the Piaget Watch trademark has just emerged from the workshops of the Manufacture. Representing a perfect expression of the two fields of skill brilliantly mastered by Piaget: haute horlogerie in La Cte-aux-Fes and haute joaillerie in Geneva - the Piaget Emperador Full-Set Coussin Perpetual Calendar enshrines the entire Piaget heritage. Only 20 of these watches will be produced in 2010.
An authentic mechanical time-programming instrument, capable of handling calendar irregularities until the year 2100, the perpetual calendar is one of the major horological complications and also one of the most widely appreciated. This watch houses Calibre 856P, a mechanical self-winding movement beating at a cadence of 21,600 vibrations per hour and boasting a 72-hour power reserve. Loyal to the tradition of the many ultra- thin movements created by Piaget, this diminutive 5.6 mm thick calibre houses an impressive array of functions: hours, minutes, small seconds at 4 o'clock, month and leap year at 12 o'clock, retrograde day of the week and date indications at 3 o'clock. In addition to these two retrograde displays, it is distinguished from the majority of ordinary perpetual calendars by the addition of a dual time zone displayed by two hands in a subdial at 9 o'clock, as well as a day/night indicator indexed to the central hour.
The Calibre 856P movement's mainplate and bridges are circular-grained and bevelled, their flanks are hand-drawn, and the decoration is enhanced with blued screws and circular Ctes de Genve.
This millionth Piaget watch represents the culmination of more than 300 hours of development. Its distinctive cushion shape and the decision to combine full-cut and baguette-cut diamonds totalling 9.9 carats clearly added to the daunting complexity of this project. Witness the extraordinary jewelling of the bezel: the succession of 60 baguette-cut diamonds -one for each minute - seems to literally give life and movement to this case offering a display of virtuoso gem-setting dexterity. The dial is also a major accomplishment, featuring a surface housing no less than 263 diamonds, 12 hour- markers and 5 subdials. Over 60 hours of work were lavished on the gem-setting alone of this millionth watch, and Piaget has even gone to the extent of setting 25 diamonds on the oscillating weight winding the movement, thereby lending an additional jeweller's touch to the horological vision that may be admired through the transparent case-back.
This exceptional model embodying the best of two worlds - haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie - celebrates the production of the one millionth Piaget timepiece. Its very nature means the Piaget Emperador Full-Set Coussin Perpetual Calendar is destined to be a "confidential" model issued in limited quantities, with only a few of these magnificent tribute watches emerging from the Manufacture each year.
