Timeless Connections: Piaget Honours An Everlasting Bond By Unveiling New Andy Warhol Watch

Yves Piaget and Andy Warhol. Credit: Piaget.

When we think of the work of eccentric artist Andy Warhol—his cut-and-paste Campbell’s soup cans, famed Factory studio, experimental underground films and collection of self-imposed ‘Superstars’—our minds often extend to what we see captured in his paintings and photographs. Quite rarely do we consider his hands, the ultimate tool, or the timepieces that adorned his wrist during the most flourishing period of his career. 

You see, Warhol was obsessed with time. As the story goes, Warhol adopted the phrase, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes,” during a showcase in 1968, setting into motion a fixation with subversion, celebrity culture, capitalism and the mainstream. By the time 1973 rolled around, Warhol was already a devoted horologist, collecting watches of cultural relevance, rare importance and covetable by design. 

In 2024, none of Warhol’s watches hold more significance than the Piaget piece he was most associated with during his lifetime. Featuring an era-defining Beta21 movement, sleek cushion shape and gilded decorative casing, the piece has today been renamed in honour of the everlasting bond between him and the Swiss Maison. Previously named the Black Tie watch, Piaget has unveiled the now-eponymous style under an official collaboration under licence with The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. As singular and original as its namesake, the Andy Warhol watch has the trappings of a true icon. 

Piaget’s Rose Gold Self-Winding Watch G0A42236, SHOP NOW. Credit: Piaget.

Warhol’s intimate relationship with Piaget continued in 1973 when he acquired the Black Tie watch, adding to a collection of six other Piaget timepieces. (Four of which are today part of Piaget’s Private Collection). At the turn of the decade in 1979, Warhol had become a close and authentic friend of Yves Piaget, a 4th generation Piaget and great-grandson of the luxuriate’s founder, Georges-Édouard Piaget. It is under the now-Chairman that the brand became synonymous with the beau monde through the inception of the Piaget Society.

The Piaget Society, then and now; Liza Minnelli, Bianca Jagger, Andy Warhol and Derek Blasberg, Edward Enninful. Credit: Piaget

Together, Piaget and Warhol frequented glamorous soirées hosted in New York and Palm Beach and regular attendees at ritzy discothèque like Chez Régine at Studio 54. In 1983, a decade after Warhol made that historic purchase, Yves Piaget was profiled in Interview magazine, the publication Warhol founded in 1969, cementing an enduring connection between the renegade auteur and patron of savoir-faire. 

Credit: Piaget

Almost half a century later, this stylish know-how has come to a crescendo with the latest design interpretation of the freshly minted Andy Warhol watch. Unfurling a new chapter and identity in Piaget’s 150th year in business, the label has crafted the Clou de Paris variant in celebration of the milestone. An ode to the original design, which debuted in 1972, the timepiece is a hallmark of elegance courtesy of the employment of one of the most refined decorative techniques. 

For the uninitiated, Clou de Paris is a guilloché, or repeated pattern motif featuring a jewellery-like design of small, pyramid-like squares. This has been a symbol of Piaget since the mid-century, so it was essential to develop a new rendering fitting for the watchmaker’s anniversary and the introduction of the redeveloped timepiece. In the end, Piaget’s Ateliers de l’Extraordinaire spent 10 months developing and perfecting the intricate finish on the white gold case. 

Piaget’s New Andy Warhol Clou de Paris watch. Credit: Piaget.

Reminiscent of the signature piece, the pattern is a testament to the importance of patience and perfection in craftsmanship. As Warhol said in 1975, “They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” So to do so, Piaget’s Andy Warhol watch was meticulously hand-finished on a curved surface over the traditional flat plane. 

Recreating and modernising the subtle ridges of the earlier interpretations wasn’t the only enhancement. A one-of-a-kind blue meteorite dial compliments this finish, with the textured hue reminiscent of an art technique known as “impasto” whereby the strokes of a palette knife remain visible on the canvas. The refined scratches also nod to Piaget’s ways of embracing creativity and Warhol’s artistic sentiment, with the ornamental stone a distinctive material the Maison exclusively reserves for extraordinary creations.

Indeed, pieces don’t get more bespoke than this, as Piaget is also inviting collectors to create their very own Andy Warhol watch through the enhanced Made to Order personalisation service. 

Truly inimitable, the offering marks the first time the Andy Warhol watch has been made available to market since briefly being reissued in 2014 as part of the ‘Extremely Piaget’ High Jewellery Collection. (Which, at the time, featured a cushion-shape, rose gold, or black dial and black alligator skin strap.) A decade might’ve passed, but as Warhol himself said, “the idea of waiting for something makes it more exciting”. 

Piaget’s Andy Warhol watch is available to purchase online and in-store at your local boutique.

Visit your nearby Piaget boutique:
MELBOURNE: 1341, Dandenong Road, G-477 Chadstone Shopping Centre, 3148, Chadstone
SYDNEY, WESTFIELD: Westfield Sydney, Level 4, Shop 4032/188 Pitt St, 2000, Sydney
SYDNEY, KING STREET: 84 King Street, Shop 6, 2000, Sydney

Or discover the full list of Piaget stores, here.