Yves Piaget Talks New Book

Piaget has long been known for creating some of the world’s thinnest luxury watches, and they still are. “It’s all due to our highly qualified watchmakers,” said Yves Piaget, 73, the last member of the Swiss family to work for the firm, which was sold to Richemont in 2007. Part of the deal was that Piaget stay on to run it. “My role is to transmit values, to have continual dialogue with the younger generation,” he said. He has written a new book, “Piaget: Watchmakers and Jewelers Since 1874,” with text by Florence Müller and photographs by Philippe Garcia and Steve Hiett (Abrams, New York). It features many detailed close-up photos of how the watches are made and glamorous photos of the results. There are also lots of great-looking vintage ads. In his tenure at Piaget, he has expanded further into fine jewelry, a category which has been important since the Fifties, and opened 60 boutiques “in the capitals of the world.” The company’s first sport watch was their polo watch, which was a good fit since polo is known as the sport of kings. “It attracts the best crowd we could have,” said Piaget, whose firm often underwrites competitions in

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