<i>Piaget recently opened its third boutique in the United States at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. The Five-Star oceanfront resort offers the perfect setting for Piaget's elegant creations since the environment is, like the jewelry and watches, one of casual sophistication and timeless elegance.</i>



Synonymous with excellence and exceptional creations, Piaget is renowned not only for such signature collections as Piaget Polo, Dancer and Protocole, but also for unique jewelry watches. However, Piaget at The Breakers will also focus on Piaget jewelry carrying a collection exclusive only to a limited number of locations in the US.
Founded in 1874 in the Swiss Jura mountains by Georges Piaget, the `Ateliers de la Côte-aux-FÉes' made precision watch movements that quickly attracted the most prestigious watch brands of the period. It wasn't until 1940 that the company decided to produce watches carrying the company name. In 1943, GÉrald and Valentin Piaget, the founder's grandsons, registered the brand name and led it into the international market.
Innovators since the very beginning, in 1957, Piaget launched the first ultra-thin mechanical movement (2 mm thick) and three years later, Valentin Piaget created the world's thinnest automatic movement to date - the famous Calibre 12P - which was a mere 2.3 mm thick. Piaget's specialty of ultra-thin movements paved the way for a series of unusual creations such as coin watches, square and rectangular cases and ladies jewelry watches.
However, it wasn't until the fourth generation of Piagets that the company boldly moved into using colorful gemstone dials, using onyx, turquoise and lapis lazuli. With Yves G. Piaget at the helm in the 1970s the company's reputation and appeal grew even stronger and people such as Jackie Kennedy, Gina Lollogrigida, Andy Warhol, Roger Moore, Bjorn Borg and Barbra Streisand began wearing the watches and Piaget was looked upon as a trendsetter.
The first Piaget store opened in Geneva's prestigious Rue du Rhône some thirty years ago. The first North American store opened in September 1996 on Fifth Avenue, New York. Today, with the opening of Piaget at The Breakers, the company has 28 boutiques around the world in such cities as Paris, Monte Carlo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Barcelona, London, Mumbai and Tokyo.


The interior and exterior views of Piaget's new boutique at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. This brings to 28 the number of Piaget brand name boutiques around the world.



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Source: Couture International Jeweler
June / July 03 issue