Piaget Protocole Yellow Gold Onyx Dial Ref. 9154, 1980s

Identity

Piaget Protocole, 18-carat yellow gold, Ref. 9154, 1980s. Manual-winding mechanical movement, calibre of the 9P family. 18-carat yellow gold case, rectangular with canted corners, 25 × 28 mm, reeded front, reference and case number engraved on the back, fluted gold crown. Onyx stone dial, signed Piaget, without indexes, gold dauphine hands. Sapphire crystal. Black leather strap, original monogrammed 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 Protocole is one of the named expressions of that freedom: a rectangular case with canted corners, a front covered in fine reeding, a dial often cut from stone — onyx, tiger's eye, mother-of-pearl — and a manual-winding calibre of the 9P family. The line ran from the 1970s into the 2000s.

Character

The dial carries no indexes: two gold hands on a plate of black stone, and nothing but the maker's signature. All the light is taken by the reeded front that frames it, out to the canted corners of the case. The onyx absorbs it.

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