Piaget - Polo philosophy
WORLDTEMPUS - 6th December 2009
Luxury watchmaker - and jewellery ditto - chose Buenos Aires as the venue to present their latest model of the popular and legendary Polo collection. Piaget had chosen this southern location due to the brands increasing interest in the equestrian sport of polo. Yves G. Piaget´s horological brainchild from 1979 has now grown, not only in interest but also in size and the latest model of the Polo FortyFive was introduced during a gala dinner in Buenos Aires on Nov. 30th in front of press and retailers in the Argentine capital city.
Limited edition
Even though Piaget is famous for not introducing one limited version after each other, unlike most of the brands counterparts, Phillip Leopold Metzger chose to offer a 45 piece limited version to salute the Argentine captain, Marcos Heguy, of the Piaget polo team, Pilará, that plays in Argentina's famous Triple Crown series. This model has blue subdials as well as incorporating the words "10 Handicap". The case-back, revealing the watch's movement, bears the name "Marcos Heguy" and Marcos's signature. The watch will be launched at the USPA Piaget Gold Club in Florida in 2010, which means a prototype will probably be on display, come SIHH in January 2010.
"Having a watch with my own name on it is an enormous privilege", Marcos Heguy revealed to Worldtempus during the Piaget gala dinner. This dinner also had European polo players such as Dutch Martijn Van Scherpenzeez of Adrenalina Team and Belgian Philip de Groot of E7 Team on their guest list. Both teams will probably see a sponsorship from the watchmaking host as Piaget is aggressively strengthening their relationship with this exclusive and noble sport.
"The polo game is like a drug. I play six or seven days a week and actually plan to move to Buenos Aires to be closer to the real game, tough competition and the best polo ponies in the world," Philip de Groot told Worldtempus.
Leading the game
Piaget is not the only watch making company that loves and promotes polo. Hublot, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Cartier and Ralph Lauren also have b relations with the equestrian sport. However Piaget is the only watch company that has a watch named after the noble game. This certainly boosts the perception of Piaget as an obvious leader of the game - so to say.