Fingers-On: Piaget Polo 79 Watch
Images by Ed Rhee and Jacob Witkin
Just some years up to now, I was engaged on a enterprise for a pre-owned watch provider, and its assortment was filled with basic Polo watches by Piaget. I spent an excessive time frame looking this a part of the catalog, studying the entire weird and wild variations accessible. I understood that these have been super-dated watches, however I was nonetheless drawn to them. I questioned my model as I couldn’t pretty make clear why I was drawn to these Nineteen Eighties relics which were so clearly passé. Fast-forward to 2024, and as soon as I heard regarding the new Piaget Polo 79 watch, I perked up and paid consideration. Then I purchased rather more excited after we purchased our fingers on one for a overview.
From the get-go, the Piaget Polo 79 seems really good; whereas clearly impressed by the distinctive mannequin from — you guessed it — 1979, it benefits from a handful of updates that make it utterly acceptable for correct now. Very similar to how Cartier insists on calling the case sides that transition into lugs “brancards,” Piaget refers again to the horizontal traces that embellish all of the span of the watch, along with the sides, as “gadroons.” Nonetheless, not like “brancards,” which is the French phrase for “stretcher,” “gadroon” is actually an English phrase (with French origins) that describes a decorative motif consisting of convex ridges or rounded flutes, often utilized in construction, furnishings, and metalwork. Piaget’s use of gadrooning on the Polo 79 (and its predecessors) is as visually satisfying as a layered cake, and it’s clearly what supplies the piece its distinct character. It’s the frosting that takes an in every other case widespread chunk to 1 factor memorable. Is it an extreme quantity of for some? Sure, nevertheless not everyone likes additional unfold — nevertheless for people who do, it’s the icing on the cake (sorry.)
Not that there’s one thing widespread regarding the Piaget Polo 79; we’re talking just a few hefty chunk of 18k yellow gold, sculpted into Yves Piaget’s imaginative and prescient of what a bracelet watch should be. It’s heavy (200 grams), flashy, and inside the phrases of my colleague Jake, “so dang good.” The excellence of the polished gadroons with the brushed surfaces of the rest of the metalwork is superb.
Compared with the 34mm or smaller proportions of old-school Polo watches, the model new Polo 79 clocks in at 38mm in diameter. Inside the fussy world of watch enthusiasm, 38mm seems to be the sweet spot that the majority can agree on, so that’s a win. In customary Piaget vogue, the case is a slender 7.45mm and wears comfortably on the wrist. That’s nowhere near Piaget’s thinnest watch, nevertheless a statement-making gold timepiece that was as quickly as marketed as “The world’s last sports activities actions watch” shouldn’t be too skinny anyway. There’s a perfect amount of articulation between the bracelet hyperlinks and none of that dreaded hair-pulling that some bracelets can inflict. The ends of the tapered bracelet meet at a flawlessly hid clasp, and I would thankfully placed on the watch dial coping with right down to level out off all that gadroon-y goodness on the band.
Nonetheless, the gold dial might be merely pretty much as good to try, seamlessly built-in with the case and bracelet. Polished faceted dauphine fingers stage to the carved circles on the refined chapter ring, The pair of gold fingers are barely sturdy to be taught in some lighting due to the shortage of shade distinction nevertheless the faceting of the surfaces makes it manageable. I’m completely having enjoyable with the dearth of textual content material on the dials of watches I’ve simply currently reviewed on account of who needs phrases to get in the best way during which of efficiency and design? Inscriptions that time out the model, movement sort, water resistance, or chronometer certification are increased left unwritten in my opinion, or at a minimal, moved to the once more of the watch. Luckily, that’s precisely what now we have now proper right here with merely the Piaget branding beneath 12 o’clock — although Piaget could have understandably etched “Computerized” on its dials.
The distinctive Polo watch was the vessel that Piaget created to level out off its then-new ultra-thin quartz movement. Remember, the Polo was born in the midst of the Quartz Revolution, not prolonged after the debut of the chunky Beta 21 quartz movement created by means of a consortium of Swiss watchmakers. So, a slim, in-house-made, Swiss caliber using the latest timekeeping tech was one factor to be applauded all through that interval; due to this, just about all first-gen Polo watches have been proudly quartz-powered. As we communicate, it’s a definite story, in any case, and tastes have swung once more to traditional mechanical watchmaking. As such, the Piaget Polo 79 is furnished with a model new movement: the Piaget Caliber 1200P1 computerized movement with a micro-rotor. The movement, which measures 2.35mm thick, ticks at 21,600bph, and supplies 44 hours of vitality reserve is undoubtedly pretty and successfully executed nevertheless, honestly, at this value stage, it wouldn’t hurt to see further ornate ending.
Speaking of value, that’s a very powerful roadblock proper right here — the Piaget Polo 79 retails for $73,000 USD, which is extravagant, to say the least. That’s considerably stinging on account of because of that pre-owned watch provider I labored with, I do know that Polo watches on the secondary market have been pretty priced for steady gold watches. Positive, these have been used, smaller, and quartz-powered — nevertheless it is nonetheless an unnecessarily dramatic leap for a recent, larger computerized mannequin. Whereas I imagine the 2024 Piaget Polo 79 is an ultra-cool piece that brilliantly updates a vital retro design, the payment does depart a barely bitter aftertaste. For further information, please go to the Piaget website.
