Hands On: Piaget Polo 79 Sodalite

Hands On: Piaget Polo 79 Sodalite Transcending the stone dial trend.The Piaget Polo 79 Sodalite adds five panels of blue semi-precious stone to the brand’s flagship bracelet watch. It is a worthwhile extension of the collection that draws on an authentic Piaget speciality and gives the revived Polo 79 a stronger identity of its own. Initial thoughts Stone dials are now widespread, to the point that any new watch with a mineral dial feels a bit like an exercise in jumping on the bandwagon. But Piaget has been making watches with semiprecious stone dials since the 1960s, and helped establish the category altogether. As a result, the Polo 79 feels authentically Piaget, even though stone dials are now commonplace enough to seem generic. The case dimensions and build quality are unchanged — at 38 mm wide and 7.45 mm high, the Polo 79 remains compact and elegant, while the full white gold case and bracelet give it a heavy, dignified feel. The alternating brushed surfaces and polished gadroons are naturally finished to a high standard, and the rhodium plating will ensure the colour of the 18k white gold stays cool and bright indefinitely, even if it makes later refinishing a little more complicated. The watch is powered by the latest in a long lineage of Piaget micro-rotor calibres that reaches back more than 60 years. It’s still one of the thinnest automatic movements in the world, though it comes up a little short on power reserve by today’s standards, at 44 hours. Otherwise identical to the white gold Polo 79, the sodalite dial adds about US$7,000 to the retail price. The premium is arguably justified by the access it provides to another key pillar of Piaget’s history, and helps the Polo step out of the shadow cast by other 1970s-inspired integrated-bracelet sports watches. Five pieces of stone Over six decades, Piaget has amassed an unusually rich back catalogue of stone dials. Such watches were once rare, and the best vintage examples still command substantial premiums at auction. But stone dials are now available at every price point— today even humble Timex offers malachite-dialled watches for under US$200. Most mass-produced stone dials are flat wafers made in volume. The Polo 79 takes a more thoughtful approach that requires more skilled cutting. Its sodalite wafer is divided into five horizontal panels, separated by polished white gold gadroons. This arrangement is a subtle nod to Piaget’s mastery of stone marquetry, even though it is far simpler than the brand’s most artisanal work. Most importantly, this configuration makes the dial immediately recognisable as a Polo. Simple stone dials tend to make unrelated watches look alike, but the Polo’s defining horizontal motif remains undiluted. This has been true since the first stone-dialled Polos were released in the 1980s. The breadth of Piaget’s portfolio of stone dials suggests we might see additional materials added in the future. The brand has experience with stones like onyx, obsidian, and even petrified wood, so the possibilities are almost endless. In fact, the brand’s made-to-order Andy Warhol collection already offers a range of ten different mineral stones, and it’s possible some of these materials might make their way into a Polo 79 in the future. Heavy metal, thin movement The original Polo from 1979 was conceived as a gold watch at a time when stainless steel was gaining acceptance as a material worthy of haute horlogerie, and the Polo 79, including the new sodalite version, continues this trajectory. Its case, bracelet, hands and dial gadroons are white gold. Even the grey-coated micro-rotor is 22k gold. Speaking of the micro-rotor, Piaget was the first high-end brand to commit to this movement format. The slim dimensions of the cal. 12P, introduced in 1960, gave the brand an edge when it came to making the elegant gentlemen’s watches that were popular in that era. The current in-house cal. 1200P1 measures 2.35 mm in height. While this is not quite thin enough for a world record, it remains one of the thinnest automatic movements in production and is slimmer than Patek Philippe’s cal. 240 and Vacheron Constantin cal. 2550, which are both made nearby in the Geneva suburb of Plan-les-Ouates. While it’s easy to feel jaded about these kinds of dimensions when watches like Konstantin Chaykin’s ThinKing condense an entire watch down to just 1.65 mm, the 2.35 mm thickness of the cal. 1200P1 is little thicker than a Swiss five franc coin, and 30% thinner than rival Chopard’s L.U.C 96.40-L micro-rotor calibre. That said, the cal. 1200P1 is let down somewhat by the industrial quality of its finishing and the presence of budget-oriented features like the Etachron regulator. While it’s important to be aware of these details, the many obvious qualities of the movement — which is impressively thin and offers a proven track record — make it sufficient for a design-oriented watch like the Polo 79. Key facts and price Diameter: 38 mm Height: 7.45 mm Material: 18k white gold Crystal: Sapphire Water resistance: 50 m Movement: Cal. 1200P1 Functions: Hours and minutes Winding: Automatic Frequency: 21,600 beats per hour (3 Hz) Power reserve: 44 hours Strap: 18k white gold bracelet Limited edition: No Availability: Now at Piaget boutiques and retailers Price: US$101,000 before taxes; or 139,000 Singapore dollars including GST For more, visit Piaget.com. Back to top.