Piaget Square White Gold Ref. 937, 1960s

Identity

Piaget square, 18-carat white gold, Ref. 937, 1960s. Manual-winding mechanical movement, calibre of the 9P family. 18-carat white gold case, square, 25 × 25 mm, flat finely reeded bezel interrupted at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock by four polished gold bars that stand in for the hour markers, unsigned fluted crown. Silvered brushed-metal dial with a sunburst effect, minute track in dots engraved into the metal, white gold dauphine hands. Mineral crystal. Leather strap, original white gold pin buckle struck with the “P” initial in relief.

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. This dress watch, two-handed and manual-winding, is a pared-back expression of it.

Character

The hour markers step off the dial and land on the reeded bezel: four polished gold bars interrupt the relief at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock. From there the dial reads as a sundial, with its minute track in dots engraved into the metal and its sunburst effect, and the two white gold dauphine hands stand clear on it with nothing to compete against. Down to the buckle, white gold and struck with the brand's “P”, the watch projects itself in a single metal and a single gesture. The three-digit series is documented at auction over a production running from the 1960s to the early 1970s.

Serviced. Normal patina and wear consistent with age. Delivered with the Contre-Temps box and the Contre-Temps 24-month warranty certificate.