Piaget unveils 65 high jewellery pieces to close out its 150th anniversary
Sixty-five pieces, ornamental stones in the spotlight, and a trilogy drawing to a close: Piaget brings its anniversary cycle to an end in 2026 with Colours of Extraleganza, unveiled in mid-June at Villa Cypris. This final chapter marks the culmination of a project launched in 2024 to celebrate the maison’s 150th anniversary.
Colour as a raw material, according to Piaget’s vision
Artistic director Stéphanie Sivrière sets the tone from the outset: what matters here is not the intrinsic value of a stone, but the energy it generates when placed alongside another. This is the logic of a colourist, not a gemmologist. That approach sets Colours of Extraleganza apart from classic high jewellery collections, where the rarity of the gemstone takes precedence over everything else.
The collection forms part of a trilogy in which each chapter explored a different territory. Essence of Extraleganza, in 2024, revisited the creative period when Yves Piaget moved in the same circles as Dalí and Warhol, and the ateliers were producing pieces the market never saw coming. Shapes of Extraleganza, the following year, pushed further into pure design, working with materials such as jasper, chrysoprase and sodalite, stones that high jewellery has traditionally looked down upon. Colours of Extraleganza closes the cycle by placing colour at the heart of every creative decision.
A watchmaking heritage in service of the stone
It all goes back to 1957. That year, the maison introduced the calibre 9P, a movement just two millimetres thick. That slimness freed up space on the dial and made it possible to set ornamental stones directly into it: lapis lazuli, malachite, turquoise, tiger’s eye. What was then an isolated act of technical daring has become, seventy years on, the guiding thread of an entire trilogy.
That connection between watchmaking and jewellery remains very much alive in Colours of Extraleganza. Several pieces in the collection can be worn as a wristwatch or a long watch necklace, a convertibility the maison presents not as a commercial selling point, but as a construction principle inherited from the workshops of that era.
The standout pieces from the collection
Blue Illusions: 900 hours and an optical effect
The Blue Illusions necklace distils the collection’s colourist philosophy. It brings together an 8.52-carat cushion-cut sapphire from Madagascar, a 3.30-carat Paraíba tourmaline and a 13.98-carat Australian black opal. It is the opal that acts as the binding element: its blue-green flashes absorb and redistribute the tones of the other two stones. A geometric white gold lattice, composed of custom-cut sapphires and baguette tourmalines, creates an almost liquid effect around the pendant. The piece comes in two wearable configurations, with two rings and two pairs of earrings completing the set.
Flamboyant Links: a 1969 sautoir reconstructed
Flamboyant Links shifts register entirely. The piece draws inspiration from the watch necklace the maison presented in 1969 as part of its 21st Century Collection, but reconstructs it around rose gold links and tiger’s eye, a combination that had been set aside since the 1970s. A 4.13-carat cushion-cut mandarin garnet adds warmth to the whole. The sautoir can also be worn as a choker or a wristwatch.
Gems Pop and Gold Swirl: two distinct creative stances
The Gems Pop set takes a more upfront approach. Inspired by the Memphis collective, it combines spessartite, aventurine, pink sapphire and thulite in a deliberately pop palette. The dial of the watch necklace is set in orange aventurine, and the pendant detaches to become a table clock.
Gold Swirl, for its part, marks a first in the maison’s history: the gadroon motif, a signature of Piaget’s watchmaking, makes its debut in high jewellery here. It structures a sautoir alternating fire opal cabochons and indicolite tourmalines between oblong rose gold links. The cuff bracelet that accompanies it treats gold as a supple, almost textile-like material.
- Blue Illusions: 13.98-carat Australian black opal, 8.52-carat sapphire, 3.30-carat Paraíba tourmaline
- Flamboyant Links: rose gold links, tiger’s eye and a 4.13-carat mandarin garnet, inspired by a 1969 sautoir
- Gems Pop: pop palette inspired by the Memphis collective, pendant convertible into a table clock
- Gold Swirl: the gadroon motif’s first appearance in high jewellery, fire opal and indicolite tourmalines
What this trilogy reveals about the maison
Colours of Extraleganza does not read as a simple end-of-anniversary collection. It documents a creative coherence sustained over three years, with each chapter pushing the same conviction further: ornamental stones deserve just as much attention as traditional precious gemstones. Beyond that, the convertibility of the pieces, present throughout every set, is a reminder that the maison has always designed its creations to be worn in multiple ways. That principle, inherited from the workshops of the era, runs through all 65 creations in this final act.
