Piaget Emperador Coussin XL700P - That day Swiss watchmaking turned hybrid

10 March 2016 | Piaget SIHH 2016

From what I can recall, the Piaget Emperador Coussin XL700P is the first concept watch that will be released in 118 copies! This figure might sound like quite a large amount, even for a limited series crafted by a brand like Piaget that is usually geared towards the very few. This release is also the concrete proof that the new hybrid technology launched by Piaget is already industrialized and, by definition, extremely precise too. It seems like the manufacturer has finally achieved the main objective of the technology used to craft this timepiece, the second official technology available in the market following Seiko's Spring Drive technology.

No wonder that it was a brand like Piaget that launched a timepiece sporting this type of architecture. All those people who were affected by the “quartz crisis” in the 70s, when wrist watches mushroomed, are well aware of the fact that Piaget was the brand that gave us haute-horlogerie mechanic and quartz ultraflat timepieces using the 7P name (high quality quartz calibers) and also a concept watch that, as confirmed by Piaget themselves, is the source of inspiration for the Piaget Emperador Coussin XL700P.

The base concept is pretty easy (apparently): the mechanic regulating organ has been replaced by a quartz-powered-system that runs at a frequency of 32,786Hz and that also controls the speed of the generator by pinning it down to 5.33 rps. This type of technology is not to be mistaken for the so-called Japanese technology for two main reasons. The first reason is that one of Piaget's master watchmakers confirmed that these are two completely different technologies.

The second reason – the most important one in my opinion – is that the information and video available of the Piaget Emperador Coussin XL700P are so few that even providing you with any explanation about the two above figures is some sort of an epic task. Piaget have made sure that every technical piece of information about their watch is kept secret, this timepiece boasts at least 10 patents pending and everything you can find out about it only concerns its aesthetic side.

While waiting for a few more technical details to be released, we can only focus on what we do best: commenting on the aesthetics of the iconic Emperador Coussin; a 46.5mm-case made white gold that is ADLC-coated on the bezel, the golden microrotor features a guillochè decoration and a standing out Piaget logo.

For some brands, the SIHH is a quick preview of something that they will provide more details of during the rest of the year and that's probably the reason why Piaget re-named its timepiece a Concept Watch and only released it in 118 copies, it is the story of a prototype that is still being fine tuned and for which no retail price has been announced yet, the story of a watch that will probably write a new chapter in Piaget's history and in the history of Swiss horlogerie too.