The Piaget Polo 79 watch hands-on

Introduction

The Piaget Polo 79 is a stunning full gold watch and, without a doubt, the 2024 brand’s flagship. Piaget turns 150 years old in 2024, and we will not expect anything less than the extraordinary throughout the year. Also, the Piaget Polo 79 tells a nice story: a timepiece turned into a collection, bringing the brand to new heights as the eighties began.

The game of Polo as a source of inspiration

Despite being contemporary and utterly different from the original, the current collection owes its name to the game of Polo, whose popularity grew considerably towards the end of the seventies; also, Piaget was the competition’s main sponsor.

Back then, the sports watch in steel shook the industry, thanks to the genius of Gerald Gènta, whereas Piaget was popular among ultra-thin watch lovers.

At the dawn of the eighties, the quartz watch industry began to plummet, and Piaget customers started asking for a more versatile, multi-purpose sports watch, too.

The Piaget Polo was Yves Piaget’s recipe and came as a full-gold watch where the integrated bracelet is form and function.

It is the quintessential eighties-gold sports watch as gold became extremely popular across Europe and the United States. The Piaget Polo 79 is a welcomed new model that builds, 45 years after its debut, on the brand’s rich heritage and reaffirms Yves Piaget as a genius and a trendsetter.

The new Piaget Polo 79

Laconically named Piaget Polo 79, it offers a case into a bracelet and the other way round, whose integration also involves the dial. The brushed and thin “gadroon” intermingled links create a unique, seamless pattern.

You get the illusion of not knowing where the bracelet stops, becoming a bracelet and vice versa. Kudos to the brand’s designers for bravely reproducing the exact original design, which takes on the nostalgia factor as no other brand has ever attempted.

Turn your eyes to the logo on the crown or the see-through case back to ensure it is the contemporary model and not its vintage sibling.

The case size measures 38 mm across, and the new model debuts as a one-sized (commemorative) model powered by the ultra-thin self-winding micro-rotor powered 1200P1 calibre, beating at 3 Hz movement and running for 44 hours when fully wound.

Piaget calibre 1200P1

The 1200P family equips the Altiplano collection, and such a choice proves that Piaget has entered the ultra-thin sports watch arena with the new Polo 79.

It offers excellent finishes like circular Côtes de Genève and bevelled angles and measures 2,35 mm, ensuring a 7,45 mm watch’s overall thickness. The Piaget Polo 79 weighs 200 grams, which is excellent for a full-gold watch (dial included).

Final thoughts

Love it or hate it, the Piaget Polo 79 is a superb reissue and of the same league as the reissued 222 by Vacheron Constantin; it’s mainly about watch culture and touching the hearts of admirers of the finest forgotten timepieces.

While its style might break your heart or not, it is “very Piaget”. It brings back the essence of Piaget and confirms the brand is “alive and kicking” as an unexpected contender in such a competitive category.

We love the outcome and can’t wait to discover what’s next. Is Piaget opening a new chapter and ready to produce an equally ultra-thin Piaget Polo 79 in steel anytime soon? For further information, please visit the official Piaget website.

(Photo credit: Horbiter®)

Giovanni Di Biase @Horbiter®