![]() ![]() Meanwhile, it still feels a little weird to talk about "collecting" the vintage Piaget Polo. Finally, because many of these pieces contained so much gold, dealers would often just melt them down, thinking (or knowing) there was more value in the melt value than in the watch itself. A lot of bracelets are also just too short because it's practically impossible to properly lengthen them once they've been cut. He explained that Piaget would produce bracelets in a pattern that only it knew how to make, so you can usually tell if they've been modified after the fact. "A lot of bracelets are also stretched, lengthened by independent jewelers," Harris of Mendel Watches says. There are different opinions about whether Piaget dials are more fragile than others, but some have mentioned that because Piaget's cases were also so thin (for example, compared to a Rolex Oyster case), they're also set differently and more prone to cracks. And if you can see a crack with the naked eye, it's a pass. Because these dials are so thin, many are cracked and it's often hard to see. If you're thinking about buying a stone-dial Piaget, buy a loupe first. It's also increasingly difficult to find those Piaget watches that are special in good condition. That said, while there are some special vintage Piaget watches, Piaget also produced a lot of those entry-level pieces that just aren't as collectible. Like with any area of collecting, it takes time to become versed in the world of Piaget, especially since there's nearly endless variety. These stone dials, often paired with bracelets that wear more like silk than metal, were expensive when first released, and unlike anything offered by other watchmakers. No doubt, some dealers saw this as an opportunity.īut, beyond any hype, a lot of Piaget watches from this era are objectively interesting. Even today, it's not like they're that hard to find walking around the Miami Beach Antique Show earlier this year, vintage Piaget was a common sight, with those bright stone dials or gold bracelets begging to be bought. And even I can remember when these vintage Piagets were selling for next to nothing, tossed in cases underneath more popular Rolex or Omega watches. When there's this much consensus around a certain brand or era, it makes me inherently skeptical. It's precious metal, geometric designs, bright stone dials, playing polo on the lawn and hanging out at Studio 54 with Andy Warhol looking on. And let's be honest: today, a bright stone dial or a shiny gold bracelet sure pops on Instagram for those concerned with such things. And while the original (steel) Royal Oak and Nautilus are a bit demure in their statement of luxury, Piaget is unashamedly luxurious and of the 1970s. (Cynically, perhaps dealers were tired of acquiring these watches at high prices and wanted a new slant that wasn't quite as expensive.) Vintage Piaget sits somewhere between steel sport watch and those shaped Cartier watches, perfectly splitting the difference between two trends of the past few years. Those geometric designs opened people up to the shapes of the '70s, but after being beaten over the head with these watches, it was time for something just a little different. Perhaps the Piaget trend started with the interest in those Genta-designed '70s steel sport watches, both as an outgrowth of and reaction to the ubiquity of steel and sport everything. And it's a specialized area of collecting, like a boss level you unlock after exploring the more discovered areas of collecting like Rolex, Cartier, even Jaeger-LeCoultre. "But, you can still get amazing or crazy pieces in the $5,000 to $10,000 range that are worth a lot more in terms of intrinsic value, craftsmanship, and design." This might be true, but while vintage Piaget is a fun novelty for a few grand, it's become a more serious investment nowadays. "Sure, some pieces have started fetching crazy prices at auction, and others – the more entry-level pieces the brand did back in the day – have doubled in price," says Harris, a dealer at Mendel Watches. Even with the recent trend, some say vintage Piaget still represents a decent value. For instance, if the trend was the '30s we'd suffer, but no one did the '70s like Piaget." In some ways, the watch world isn't so different from the rest of the world. ![]() ![]() "Piaget was very strong during that period. "There's a real trend to the 1970s right now – furniture, fashion, jewelry, and watches," Forot says. ![]()
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