During his lifetime Andy Warhol was a huge collector of watches and bought and wore seven Piaget watches. He was often photographed wearing a Piaget 15102 watch, one of his favourites. The Swiss brand was and continues to be coveted by artists and creatives.
In 2024 Piaget entered a formal relationship with the Andy Warhol foundation and formally renamed the 15102 the Andy Warhol watch. Warhol had created some 300 watches in his lifetime, these were auctioned by Sotheby’s a year after his death and four were bought by Piaget. Included in this was the gold 15102 watch with black enamel dial which was relaunched for Piaget’s 140th anniversary in 2014. See our story on the Andy Warhol watch.
Piaget has continued to mine its archives, last year it relaunched the classic Polo 79 at Watches & Wonders, and updated it further this year.
The collaboration has now been taken a step further with the creation of the Andy Warhol ‘Collage’ Limited Edition, created in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. This watch features a dial decorated with a marquetry of colourful ornamental gemstones arranged into an abstract form that echoes one of Warhol’s most celebrated polaroid collage self-portraits, taken in 1986.
Only 50 pieces have been produced, each one featuring a colourful mosaic of black onyx, yellow serpentine, pink opal and green chrysoprase on the dial. Inside, the Piaget 501P1 automatic movement powers the watch, while the case back bears an engraving of Warhol’s portrait and signature.
Warhol was quoted as saying that ‘Art is what you can get away with’, but the Piaget team took no chances. “It was about expressing Warhol without imitation,” says Piaget’s Artistic Director, Stéphanie Sivrière. “To interpret his energy and use of colour through our own savoir-faire.” and they immersed themselves in his artwork and agreed with the foundation that this first close collaboration should focus on colour.
The result is a watch that feels both modern and vintage at the same time. Additionally it’s highly collectable and celebrates the friendship between Piaget and one of Pop Art’s most iconic figures.
Like this? Read about the rebirth of the Polo 79
