Piaget - Slim and Classic
"Piaget produces approximately 23,000 watches a year. But we need to grow. That is the name of the game," Piaget CEO Phillip Leopold-Metzger told Worldtempus on a recent visit to the Manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates.
"Volume has never been the key criteria for Piaget, but as far as numbers are concerned I would like Piaget to produce 35,000 watches a year. This goal is possible to achieve. However, with our new complicated models as well as luxurious jewellery pieces we have increased the value dramatically even if we have not grown production-wise," Metzger admits.
Piaget produce their inhouse movements in the small village of La Côte-aux-Fees, just opposite the house where the founder, Georges Piaget, lived. Most of the movements produced here are of the ultra slim kind, a fact of which Metzger is especially proud.
"The slim Altiplano represents everything Piaget should be. It is classic and will never be out of style," Metzger claims, wearing a limited skeleton version of the Altiplano himself during the interview.
Slim means complicated
"It is as hard to work with our slim movements as it is to work with say a tourbillon movement," Head of Human Resources Yves Bornand tells Worldtempus, while guiding us through the production of the movements in the La Côte-aux-Fees facilities.
"It is hard for newly employed watchmakers to get used to our movements as the movement parts such as in the slim caliber 1200P are so thin and fragile. Watchmakers coming from other brands are used to much bigger movements and components."
Speaking of watchmakers, both Bornand and Leopold-Metzger admit that the lack of hands is a problem. And on top of that Piaget needs particularly skilled hands.
"In France it takes two years to become a watchmaker. In Switzerland it takes three years. To work at Piaget a watchmaker should have at least four years of skilled experience," Bornand tells Worldtempus.
True manufacturer
The La Côte-aux-Fees facilities offer 43 specialized jobs, ranging from tool design and production ,through movement design and production, to the specific decoration of movement and not least movement parts. The bracelets and cases as well as high jewellery pieces are produced in Plan-les-Ouates, proving that Piaget indeed is a true Manufacture in the broadest sense of the term. And a rare kind indeed, since other Manufactures would have their winding crowns and bracelet made by outside suppliers.
Never change the DNA
"The survival of luxury is tied to the greatness of the product," Leopold-Metzger tells Worldtempus as the interview is about to end. "The product should be classic, creative and distinctive and looking ahead, I bly believe that a Piaget Altiplano will be just that kind of product 20-30 years from now. Just like a Hermes Kelly bag, come to think of it. You wouldn't know if the bag was from this year or 20 years old. And guess what? It could be the same person who made both bags. Just like our watches. The same watchmaker could have made two Altiplano models with 30 years in between them, as we never change the DNA of our watches."
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