Piaget Polo Review: Can The Modern Take On An '80s Icon Hold Up?

While it’s more widely known for its jewelry these days, Piaget, founded in the small Swiss village of La Cote-aux-Fées by Georges Piaget in 1874, has been a watchmaker from the beginning.Its original trade, in fact, was making movements, and the company began making complete watches in In the 20th century. Before getting into the Piaget Polo, it's worth it to get into the brand's history in thin watchmaking. Since 1957, when Piaget created the historic 2mm-thick Caliber 9P, the company has been world renowned for the elegant thinness of its watches and movements. The world’s thinnest self-winding mechanical movement, Caliber 12P, followed Caliber 9P just three years later, in 1960, and Piaget has building upon these foundations ever since. Its most recent triumph in this area was the Altiplano Ultimate Concept, which debuted in 2018 as a prototype and hit the market in 2020; the entire watch, case and movement, is just 2mm thick, matching the wafer thinness of the original Caliber 9P. Along with Bulgari, another watchmaker known more for its jewelry, Piaget continues to embody the ne plus ultra of what ultra-thin watchmaking can accomplish. 

[toc-section heading="The Integrated Bracelet Era Begins"]

However, while “thin and elegant” remains the calling card of the Piaget watch brand overall, the market was looking for something a little different — a little bolder, perhaps — in the 1970s. Audemars Piguet had introduced its groundbreaking Royal Oak “Jumbo” in 1972, Patek Philippe released its similarly iconoclastic Nautilus a few years later, in 1976, and Vacheron Constantin celebrated its 222nd anniversary with the simply named “222” model in 1977.

[quote-media quote="It was the birth of what we now refer to as 'sport luxury' watches...and Yves Piaget took notice" author="" image="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0278/9723/3501/files/Patek-Philippe-Nautilus-ad-1976-2.jpg" caption="" media="left"]
What all these watches had in common, other than unmistakable design elements (The Royal Oak and Nautilus were brainchildren of the same visionary, Gérald Genta), were that they were examples of historical, traditional watch maisons embracing a more modern, sporty aesthetic while retaining the high-horology bonafides they’d earned over decades. It was the birth of what we now refer to as “sport luxury” watches, and Piaget, which was at the time still headed by the stylish, fourth-generation family scion Yves Piaget, took notice.

[toc-section heading="The Original Polo (1979)"]

On the cusp of the 1980s, a decade defined by power suits, shoulder pads, and bright, vibrant neon activewear, Yves Piaget introduced a wristwatch that could not fail to get attention: the Reference 761C701, today known as the first Piaget Polo. The watch, made of 18k gold as per longstanding Piaget precious-metal tradition, took the integrated-bracelet design of the Royal Oak and Nautilus one step further, carrying the bracelet’s gadroon-link texture all the way through the dial itself. The result was a watch that appeared, more so than any watch before it, to be cast from a single piece of gold. The idiosyncratic style of the Ref. 761C701 found an enthusiastic audience in the go-go '80s, which included several of the era’s celebrities. Tennis star Bjorn Borg, James Bond actor Roger Moore, and most famously Pop Art icon Andy Warhol all wore the watch, which retroactively gained the nickname “Polo” thanks to Piaget’s sponsorship of the equestrian sport at the time. Actress Ursula Andress, who had co-starred with Moore’s predecessor in the Bond film Doctor No, became an official brand ambassador, presenting the trophy for the World Polo Championship in Palm Beach, alongside Yves Piaget, in 1980 while wearing the watch. 

[toc-section heading="The Revival (2001-2016)"]

Photo: Bonhams

Yves Piaget sold his family firm to the Richemont Group in 1988, and with the new ownership came the end of the Polo’s heyday of popularity. Piaget revived the Polo first in 2001, with the Ref. 27700, still all in gold but here with a cleaner dial, a date display, and for the first time, a mechanical self-winding movement (Piaget Caliber 504P). Then in 2009, the 30th anniversary of the original model, came the Polo FortyFive (above), with a massive 45mm-diameter case (apropos for the era) and its complicated offshoots like the Polo FortyFive Chronograph, which ushered the in-house, ultra-thin Caliber 880P into the lineup. 

[toc-section heading="Reviewing The Modern Piaget Polo"]

The Piaget Polo S (“S” for “Steel”) followed in 2016, marking the latest generation of the model, and the first Polo watches with stainless steel cases and bracelets rather than gold ones. The design was even further afield of the 1979 version while still being subtly evocative of it. The case diameter was 42mm — less dominant than its 45mm predecessors — with a cushion-shaped dial opening framed by a round bezel. The dial sported a linear texture that Piaget says was a callback to the gadroon-lined dials of yesteryear but immediately led many to compare it to the familiar dial motif of Patek’s Nautilus. For the movement, Piaget chose not one of its own ultra-thin calibers, as it had in previous generations of the Polo,but a modified Caliber 1904-PS MC from its Richemont stablemate Cartier. As Piaget continued to refine and expand this version of the Polo — including adding chronograph, skeleton, and perpetual calendar versions as well as numerous dial colors to the core three-hand-date version — it dropped the “S” from the name of the steel-cased models. 

Piaget Polo Case

The watch we photographed is the Piaget Polo Date (Ref. GOA41002) in stainless steel, outfitted with an integrated bracelet (as opposed to the rubber strap that has been an option for the Polo model since the 2009 reboot). The case’s precise measurements are 42.3mm in diameter (usually rounded down to 42mm) and 9.5mm in thickness — certainly not the slimmest in the Piaget lineup for Piaget but still very modest and wrist-friendly. In the fraternity of integrated-bracelet sport-luxury watches, it’s somewhat in the middle range:: a Patek Philippe Nautilus measures just 8.5mm in its time-and-date-only iteration, while a three-handed Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Self-Winding measures 10,5mm thick. (though there is an “Extra Thin” version of that watch that comes in at 8.1mm). The lug-to-lug span of the case is 46.6mm, and the short lugs flank a “female” end link for the integrated bracelet that helps ensure that the watch’s on-wrist presence is fairly accurate to that measurement. 

[quote-media quote="The case’s precise measurements are 42.3mm in diameter (usually rounded down to 42mm) and 9.5mm in thickness" author="" image="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0278/9723/3501/files/Piaget-Polo-Date-flat-2_4a88ce42-4536-48fc-a65c-9d4edbfd0dfa.jpg" caption="" media="left"]That broad, rounded bezel, with its interior cushion-shaped dial frame, sports a distinctive lined, brushed finish on its surface, which gives way to polished finishing on the faceted edges. The brushed treatment continues on the main surfaces of the case middle, which hosts a grooved, push-pull crown at 3 o’clock on the right side for winding and setting the watch. The bracelet, whose lug width is 21mm at its connecting ends, carries on the same combination of satin-brushed and polished finishing as the case, with the center links featuring the same line-brushed motif as the bezel. The bracelet attaches to the wrist with a milled triple-folding clasp emblazoned with a Piaget emblem. For those requiring adjustment of the bracelet, Piaget has not included any micro-adjustments on this clasp but has designed the bracelet so that each link can be individually removed. 

Piaget Polo Dial 

Situated under a sapphire crystal, the blue sunray-finish dial catches the eye not only with its vibrant color but with its understated yet inarguably elegant recessed, horizontal-lined guilloché texture. As previously noted, this motif is derived from the original Piaget Polo of 1979 but executed here in a much more contemporary manner. (For those who might be interested in a more faithful throwback to that 1980s icon, Piaget does make a “Polo 79” version, with the gadroons traversing the dial, in a period-appropriate 38mm diameter; however, this model is thus far only available in yellow-gold and white-gold versions.) The deep blue coloring and ridged texture underpin the dial’s overall very clean and legible appearance. A white-printed minute track occupies the outer edge; just inside its borders is a set of applied baton hour indexes with a gleaming polished finish and a stripe of Super-LumiNova in their centers. 

The hour and minute hands are similarly polished and treated with lume for nighttime legibility. Both main hands are sword-shaped with slightly rounded edges at their wider ends. The central seconds hand has a diamond-shaped counterweight with a tiny, stylized Piaget “P” in its center. Just below the center of the hands, at 6 o’clock, is the watch’s only complication, a date display in a faceted trapezoidal window. The unusual shape seems uniquely suitable here, echoing the watch’s unconventional design that eschews both smoothly rounded circular edges and sharply formed angles. Balancing out the date is the applied Piaget logo at 12 o’clock, 

Piaget Polo Movement

Piaget opts here for the automatic movement it refers to as Caliber 110P, which (as noted) uses the Cartier Caliber 1904-PS MC as its base. For a bit of background, the base caliber made its debut in 2010, and takes its alphanumeric name from its maker’s history — 1904 for the year Cartier introduced its first men’s wristwatch, the Santos, and “MC” for “Manufacture Cartier.” Versions of this movement can still be found in many Cartier men’s watches, including many Calibre de Cartiers and a handful of Tank models. Piaget’s modified version, which is on display behind a clear sapphire window in the caseback, has a number of attractive high-horology embellishments, including the Piaget family coat of arms engraved on the slate-gray rotor, which also sports a circular côtes de Genève pattern. The mainplate is decorated with perlage, and key parts are held in place by  traditionally heat-blued screws.

Final Thoughts and Pricing:

The Piaget Polo Date in stainless steel on the steel bracelet retails for $15,200. The same model (with the blue dial pictured, or with a black or green dial) on a color-matched rubber strap goes for a little less, priced at $13,500. Whether or not this pricing strikes you as warranted depends largely on what you consider the Polo’s peers and competitors in the integrated-bracelet sport-luxury category. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Selfwinding in steel is listed at an eye-popping $30,000, and the Patek Philippe Nautilus, which is no longer even produced in its core three-handed 5711 version, could run you well past six figures pre-owned. If we tuck both these icons away in their own separate universe, the most realistic alternatives in this watch’s competitive set are models like the Chopard Alpine Eagle, which has an MSRP just over $18,000 in its 41mm size; the Girard-Perregaux Laureato, in a 42mm steel case, is priced right in the Polo’s neighborhood, at $15,000; and the steel-cased, time-only version of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas (the descendant of the 222) is in even more rarefied air, priced as of this writing at $28,400.

All of these watches share high-end finishing and historical pedigree, a 1970s base model (or at least inspiration from that era), and an elite Swiss-made movement. Arguably, however, it is the Piaget Polo that has made the most pop cultural impact. There are only a few luxury watches made today that instantly scream “Eighties,” and this one manages to keep that retro vibe while still being unmistakably a product of current trends in watch design. You can learn more about the brand at piaget.com