A Mythical Journey

But nothing fascinates quite so much as the Silk Route and the Spice Route.

The first trade routes appeared some 4000 years BC. We know that they all followed the rivers that were the cradles of great civilisations: the Tigris, Euphrates, Nile, Indus, and Huang Ho.

With its new collection, Piaget ventures to travel from Asia to India, revisiting the days of caravans and caravansaries.

Fine craftsmanship and creativity are in the Piaget genes. They are expressed without limitations, sometimes through experimentation with techniques not often used in jewellery or watchmaking, and through innovations that are ahead of the fashion curve. In its Manufacture just outside Geneva, about forty watchmaking and jewellery crafts supplement the movement-manufacturing activity at La Côte-aux-Fées. The designers’ imagination is translated into masterpieces thanks to resident expertise in the age-old arts of engraving, guillochage, gem-setting, and marquetry done in precious stones.

The master craftsmen reveal the motions that have been handed down from time immemorial, with the modesty of those who make excellence a daily practice. Nothing is more extraordinary than the passion that motivates these men.

A Mythical Journey by Piaget consists of twenty-eight watch models on which micromosaic, embroidery, bullino engraving, and enamel rub elbows; and eighteen pieces of jewellery created from exceptional stones including emerald and sapphire spheres, facetted sapphires and emeralds, and facetted pink sapphires set in pink gold.

As a prelude to the pieces related to China and India, Piaget is presenting two Emperador Coussin models with dials that illustrate one or the other of the two routes from the A Mythical Journey by Piaget collection. The map is an enamel miniature accentuated by hand engraving. These limited-edition timepieces show the enameller’s talent through absolute attention to detail and his ability. The map is like a painter’s canvas: open to the imagination, the unexpected, the extraordinary. As a tribute to the great explorers in the face of eternity, the dial is decorated with a compass and has a generously-sized moon phase at six o’clock. The eye is drawn to this simple, mysterious lunar orb. The gem-set bezel accentuates the hypnotic volume and the cushion shape, while the gem-set crown adds just the right note of sophistication.