Piaget Octagonal White Gold Lapis Lazuli Ref. 9341, 1970s

Price upon request

Identity

Piaget octagonal, 18-carat white gold, Ref. 9341, 1970s. Manual-winding mechanical movement, calibre of the 9P family. 18-carat white gold case, octagonal, 24 × 27 mm, reference engraved on the back, fluted crown. Bezel with eight lapis lazuli segments. Oval lapis lazuli dial, white gold sword hands. Mineral crystal. Integrated white gold cuff bracelet, original monogrammed gold clasp.

Horological context

Founded in 1874 in La Côte-aux-Fées, in the Neuchâtel Jura, by Georges Piaget, the maison first supplied movements before signing its own watches under its name in the mid-twentieth century. Piaget made itself the specialist of the ultra-thin: 1957 brought the manual-winding 9P calibre, two millimetres thick; 1960 the automatic micro-rotor 12P, then the thinnest in the world at 2.3 mm. This mastery freed the designers, who multiplied dress and jewellery watches in precious metals — hardstone dials, clous de Paris bezels, extremely slim cases. Hardstone holds a place of its own in that production: the maison cut lapis lazuli, turquoise, tiger's eye, onyx, coral and mother-of-pearl into plates thin enough for an extra-thin case, and offered a single reference in as many combinations, dial and bezel matched. The Ref. 9341, octagonal in form, was produced from the 1970s into the early 1980s.

Character

The same stone fills the dial and the bezel, tone on tone, held by a double white gold frame — oval within, octagonal without, like the glass of an old mirror. The mesh merges into it without a break. The blue is never uniform: each plate carries its clouds and its brighter flecks, which belong to it alone.

Serviced. Very good condition. Delivered with the Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.

Delivered serviced and with a 2-year warranty