HIT REFRESH

Just like athletes have to constantly get better, the watch industry has mastered the art of modernising its classics. Here's a look at some of the more recent releases that prove that even a small change can make a big difference.

- Roger Ruegger

OPENING —

For the first time, Piaget welcomes ceramic into its watchmaking repertoire, namely with the Polo Skeleton collection. Taking three years to develop, the Piaget Polo Skeleton (Ref. G0A49011) fuses ceramic and the brand’s expertise in skeletonisation. With a jet-black finish set in the Polo’s ultra-thin, second skin-like signature, the design is adding a bold modernity to Piaget’s best-known collection.

When the Polo debuted in 1979, it instantly became a success. The unisex piece, featuring signature gadroons, was crafted in gold—and over the decades, the Polo has evolved with new iterations and creative expressions: Steel, for example, was introduced in 2016 with the contemporary Piaget Polo S collection, complemented by new manufacture movements, complications, and innovations for changing times, including a date model, a perpetual calendar, and interchangeable rubber straps. Skeleton watches, on the other hand, first appeared at Piaget in 1948, and continued to be produced in small, exclusive quantities in the 1970s and 1980s. The Piaget Polo collection was an especially fine showcase for Piaget’s skeletonisation mastery, among the most famous being Miles Davis’s 1984 Piaget Polo, which celebrated the legendary musician’s regular appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival.