Piaget has launched a number of timepieces at the Watches and Wonders 2022 exhibition and the Limelight Gala Aventurine and the Polo Skeleton bring together haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie. The Limelight Gala Aventurine finds inspiration in the night sky while the Polo Skeleton illustrates the legacy of the 1979 original Piaget Polo. The two other that caught our attention are the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic and the Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC). We take a closer look at the four pieces released at the event happening in Geneva, Switzerland.

Limelight Gala Aventurine

The Limelight Gala Aventurine augments the brand's creativity and savoir-faire. Asymmetrical lugs, cambered case, and expert setting of diamonds represent the signature style of the Limelight Gala collection. This women's timepiece comes housed in a 32mm white gold case that has been embellished with swirls of 62 diamonds set on two elongated lugs.

The Limelight Gala Aventurine features a mesmerising aventurine dial. A white gold Milanese mesh bracelet combined with the sparkle of aventurine and diamonds results in elegance that the piece offers in abundance. It requires over 100 hours of craftsmanship by no less than eight of Piaget's artisans to make this detailed bracelet.

 This splendiferous reference is driven by a 3.6mm self-winding mechanical movement that delivers a power reserve of around 40 hours, marked at a frequency of 4Hz.

Polo Skeleton

The Piaget Polo Skeleton is an outcome of the brand's splendid craftspeople and their mastery of high watchmaking and jewellery arts. This openworked stunner is covered in 1,746 brilliant-cut gemstones that find surreal contrast in the 1200S1 self-winding, ultra-thin skeleton manufacture calibre at the centre of the reference.

One of the world's thinnest mechanical self-winding engines, the 1200S1 is not only skeletonised, but it is also ultra-thin at only 2.4mm. This movement is based on Piaget's famous ultra-thin automatic 1200P and delivers a power reserve of around 44 hours, with the frequency marked at 3Hz. This robust movement features a regulating device that provides increased resistance to magnetic fields. It has an off-centred oscillating weight at 8pm, allowing a maximum amount of light into the movement through two sapphire crystals.

 The 42mm white gold case of the watch, measuring 7.35mm in thickness, offers a water resistance of around 30 metres. The case itself has been embellished with 268 brilliant-cut diamonds and comes with a white gold polished and satin-finished 'H' design integrated bracelet that has been set with a further 1,478 brilliant-cut diamonds. This amalgamation of haute horlogerie and haute joaillerie is further augmented by a reversed diamond on the crown.

Altiplano Ultimate Automatic and Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC)

The Altiplano Ultimate Automatic offers an interesting design that clubs together the pink gold of the case and the blue of the dial. The display shows a blue dial at 10 o'clock and the view of the movement. Its elevated bridges also prevent the watch from stopping when pressure is exerted on the sapphire crystal. This means that the crystal, when bent with everyday use, will not touch and stop the hands as it is blocked by the raised bridges.

The suspended barrel is held by one single bridge on the dial side. A peripheral rotor made of blue-coloured 22K gold is surrounded by a diamond-set bezel and is highly visible when it spins around the outside of the movement, winding the watch as it goes.

Another one in line is the Altiplano Ultimate Concept (AUC), which is an outcome of extreme engineering. A typical watch would have four layers - a bezel and crystal, a dial and hands, a movement, and a caseback. But Piaget is beyond conventions on this piece, getting rid of this four layer construction to club the bridges, dial, and hands on one side and the caseback, movement, main plate, and bezel on the other. The result? The timepiece is just 2mm in height, from the underside of the caseback to the top of the sapphire crystal.

The 41mm Altiplano watch has a cobalt alloy case which houses the Manufacture Piaget 900P-UC ultra-thin, hand-wound mechanical movement marked at a frequency of 4Hz, delivering a power reserve of around 40 hours. The super-thin watch has been paired with a blue alligator leather strap.

Limelight Gala Precious

The Limelight Gala Precious comes with a splendid malachite dial whose central circle has been done with a diamond snow set and framing it is a beautifully coloured gradient setting of tsavorites and diamonds on the asymmetrical bezel.

The 32mm white gold case, set with 20 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 1.47K), of the Limelight Gala Precious features 22 brilliant-cut tsavorites (approx. 3.24K). Its snow-paved dial has been set with 154 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx. 0.70K) and a malachite base plate (approx. 2.6K). The elegance of the package extends to its bracelet too, which has been offered in 18K white gold, engraved with a Palace decoration.

The case houses the 501P1 Manufacture automatic mechanical movement, which delivers a power reserve of around 40 hours, marked at a frequency of 28,800 vph. The watch is also water resistant upto 30 metres.