Piaget Unveils Two New Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin Models At Watches And Wonders 2023

For 2023, Piaget has unlocked an unprecedented challenge to create the first mechanical perpetual calendar watch for the Polo collection. This newest Piaget Polo model boasts a 4mm-thin 1255P caliber to power a triple calendar correct until the year 2100 and a moonphase indication. Piaget revealed the watch this year in a teaser launch for Watches and Wonders, and it came in a 42mm stainless steel case. To follow up, the Swiss watchmaker has just unveiled two new versions of the Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in rose gold and white gold at the Geneva show. However, as we will see with the latter model, the differences are not merely case-deep.

Extravagance + elegance

Piaget has a long history of using the most precious metals and the finest materials in its creations. Even back in the 1960s, the manufacture would draw inspiration from the front rows of Paris runway shows to design fashion-forward jewelry watches. And the goldsmithing craft subsequently developed into house mastery. Fast forward to 2021, Benjamin Comar joined as CEO and started asserting the brand’s focus on extravagance and elegance. He even coined his own term “extraleganza” in interviews and for brand literature. And that pretty much sums up what we are seeing from Piaget’s new releases.

Bring back the glamour

The heritage brand is reinstating A-list glamour with the famed Polo watch. A luxury sports watch based on a Yves G. Piaget design from 1979 and revived in 2016, the Polo is now Piaget’s best-selling star (if you are unfamiliar with the Polo, you can read about its storied past and the vitals of the Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in stainless steel with a dark emerald-green dial here). Back in the late ’70s, gold was all the rage for glitzy timepieces, and the first Polo was available exclusively in this precious metal. Thus, it makes sense to see Piaget’s top-level modern version now available in a rose gold variant.

The 4mm-slim caliber

Crafted in 18K rose gold, this novelty has the same green dial as its steel counterpart. Now, however, it features rose gold hands and matching accents for the sub-dial frames and indexes. Powering the watch is Piaget’s caliber 1255P, boasting a moonphase display along with day, date, year, and leap year, accurate to the year 2100. Fun fact: 2100 is when all perpetual calendars will need a slight adjustment on March 1st to skip that one leap year so that solar time and the calendar can align.

Piaget’s legacy of ultra-thin movements

Equipping the 1255P with a complicated perpetual calendar is quite a technical feat. You could imagine performing that on a movement measuring a mere 4mm thin. And it really shows off Piaget’s fascinating legacy as a pioneer in the field of ultra-slim movements. The brand garnered many world firsts as far back as 1957 when it created the 9P, a 2mm-thin hand-wound mechanical movement. It was followed in 1960 by the micro-rotor caliber 12P, which, at 2.3mm, became the world’s thinnest automatic movement.

The Polo signature stripes

The newest 1255P movement was inspired by the 1200P, a direct descendent of the 12P. The micro-rotor is key to bringing down the 42mm watch to a scant 8.65mm in thickness. The movement beats at 21,000vph (3Hz) and provides 42 hours of power reserve. Most importantly, it also operates the calendar indications in three sub-dials and moon phases at 6 o’clock. The dial features applications of Super-LumiNova on the hands and markers, as well as horizontal strips as a nod to the “gadroons” of the 1970s originals.

The Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in rose gold retails for CHF 72,500 (the price in euros will vary by country). It comes with a new interchangeable strap system, SingleTouch, along with a green rubber strap with a gadroon pattern on it.

White gold and exotic stones

Equally “extralegant,” or perhaps even more so, is the second novelty, the Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in white gold. Gone is the green from the stainless steel model. This material upgrade brings with it a blue obsidian dial with inherent iridescence. Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass formed from the rapid cooling of lava. It is often black, however, according to Piaget, inclusions can form “when drops of mineral-rich sulfide liquid [become] trapped in the rock as it [solidifies].” These inclusions are very rare but are exactly what we see in the obsidian used for these dials, hence the intriguing shades. And as nature dictates, no two dials are the same, even if cut from the same piece of obsidian.

The alluring dial is gracefully framed by a bezel set with deep blue sapphires in dark claws. To complete the look, the white gold Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin comes with a blue alligator strap to intensify the vivid and natural hues. And just like the rose gold model, the watch is also equipped with a sporty quick-change rubber strap.

For this white gold Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin, the price is available upon request.

For more information, visit the Piaget website.