Piaget Square Yellow Gold Clous de Paris Ref. 9357, 1970s

Identity

Piaget square, 18-carat yellow gold, Ref. 9357, 1970s. Manual-winding mechanical movement. 18-carat yellow gold case, square, 23 × 23 mm, bezel with clous de Paris guilloché, polished case band and lugs, reference engraved on the back, crown set with a sapphire cabochon. White dial, painted black Roman numerals, blued sword hands. Mineral crystal. Black leather strap, original signed gold pin buckle.

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. The clous de Paris guilloché, a field of hollow-cut pyramids, is one of those registers: it makes gold its own ornament, without stone or setting.

Character

The guilloché is confined here to the bezel, which frames a dial that stays classical: white ground, Roman numerals, blued hands. The polished case band and lugs carry that contrast further, leaving relief and light to the dial's surround alone. The crown holds a sapphire cabochon, the pin buckle a P in relief.

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