In-Depth A Collector's Guide To The Original Piaget Polo

This year marks Piaget's 150th anniversary, and it couldn't have come at a better time, as interest in vintage Piaget has picked up among collectors in the past few years. From stone dials to ultra-thin watchmaking, Piaget was a pioneer in the mid-20th century. But one watch stands apart from the rest: the Polo.

This Collector's Guide is an in-depth look at the original Piaget Polo, introduced in 1979 and produced through the early '90s. It quickly became an icon of its era, perfectly cast on Robert DeNiro's wrist in Casino or on the real-life wrists of Andy Warhol, Brooke Shields, Björn Borg, and so many others.

In recent years, the Polo has seen a resurgence in popularity. As in the past, some of this is because of its cultural impact: now Sylvester Stallone is wearing a Polo in Tulsa King and Michael B. Jordan's got one sitting courtside. But the interest has mostly been driven by enthusiasts and collectors. It's nostalgia, an appreciation for Piaget's impact on culture and watchmaking, and a turn to smaller and dressier watches – all mixed together into that confounding cauldron we call a "trend."

I've previously written about the historical context in which the Polo was released, which Malaika further explored with Piaget's Borgeaud in Watches in the Wild: Paris.

This article is going to focus on Piaget's icon, the Polo. While there's been increased interest in the model, there still isn't much documented information available. When I see Polos listed for sale, prices can be all over the place – small Polos will be listed for more than large ones, and often no regard seems to be given to condition.

I hope that this article starts to change that, and helps potential collectors make more informed buying decisions.

"Piaget wanted something we could control from beginning to end," Borgeaud said. So Piaget began developing its own quartz caliber, eventually releasing the Piaget caliber 7P in 1976. Upon release, it became the world's thinnest quartz watch, just 3.1mm thick. Soon after came the 8P, an even smaller movement designed for women's watches.

With a new ultra-thin movement ready, Piaget just needed an equally chic watch.

"Our agent in the U.S. especially thought that Piaget needed a daily 'sports chic' watch that was easy to wear and that could also attract new, younger clients," Borgeaud said. Kind of like those early Daytona (née Le Mans) advertisements, you can find early advertising for the watch that doesn't mention Polo, just a "new and glorious" Piaget watch. 

In 1979 Piaget introduced the Polo, a solid gold watch with 132-136 grams of gold. There were round and square options, both in a small and large size targeted at men and women, respectively. The gold is satin-finished, with polished gadroons in between giving the Polo its signature look. Piaget's new quartz caliber 7P powered the Polo – while enthusiasts sometimes look down on quartz nowadays, at the time the new tech was viewed differently.

"Quartz was very chic at the time, and the 7P became among the most chic," Borgeaud said. It was ultra-thin and set via a crown hidden on the caseback, meaning no crown protruding from the case side to break up the elegance of Piaget's new watch bracelet. This makes the Polo a perfectly symmetrical watch bracelet with two hands for telling the time and not much more.

A standard, gold Polo would've retailed for around $20,000 in the 1980s (equivalent to as much as $70,000 today, adjusted for inflation) with diamond setting, stone dials, and all kinds of other customization options available to clients for an additional price.

Yves Piaget, the fourth generation of the family, took the helm of Piaget around this time and worked to further define the brand as an exuberant balance of elegance and extravagance. The Polo is a watch bracelet, but first, it's a bracelet, Yves is famous for saying (I'm told it sounds more elegant in French.)

"[On the square model,] the bracelet is completely cohesive with the shape of the case, making it the perfect example of the total integration of the watch with the bracelet, which is the key characteristic of the Polo," Borgeaud said. Every dealer and collector I spoke with agreed about this: While the round Polo gets more attention, the square Polo is the best expression of Piaget's watch bracelet.

Piaget produced the Polo from 1979 until 1990. In 1988, Vendôme Group (now Richemont) acquired Piaget. While Polo production stopped in 1990, it seems that Piaget continued to sell the Polo for a few years after the acquisition.

Bourgeaud estimates that Piaget produced 2,000 to 3,000 of the square and the round Polo (i.e., 4,000–6,000 in total). It's a surprisingly small production number, though perhaps not as much when you consider the MSRP and the fact that you could've gotten a gold Rolex Day-Date for about half the price.

Given the sheer amount of gold in the Polo, and the fact that for much of history, Polos were worth less than their scrap value (even today, they're not worth that much more), there's no telling how many were melted down over the years.

About 95 to 98 percent of Polos were quartz. We'll get to the rare automatic Polos in a moment, true grails for Piaget collectors. Yellow gold Polos are by far the most common, representing about 70 percent of examples. About 20 percent are bi-metal (white and yellow gold), and 10 percent are white gold.

Piaget produced the Polo in dozens of different sizes, styles, and variations. The reference numbers tell you the following: the first digit represents the caliber; most often 7 for the caliber 7P or 8 for the caliber 8P. The next few digits refer to the case. Finally, the suffix represents the bracelet type, for example, "C701" for a plain-jane gold bracelet without any diamonds.

"Outside of the common models, production was quite low," Borgeaud said, explaining that customizations were often produced in as few as one to 25 examples. Borgeaud has been with Piaget for 16 years and says he still discovers unique Polos he's never seen before.

The most common variations you'll see are onyx dials, followed by lapis lazuli. But there are also Polos with mother of pearl, opal, turquoise, red jasper, and likely countless others. Then there are the diamonds – so many diamonds: pavé-set dials, diamonds set into the bracelet's bracelet links or gadroons, and all kinds of other settings. Some of these variants, like onyx dials or diamond-setting, were offered in the catalog; others were likely specific requests for clients. Many of these more elaborate Polos were destined for the Middle East, often ordered through retailer Asprey.

I've also seen a handful of retailer-signed Polos from prestigious names like New York's Tiffany & Co. and London's Asprey.

I surveyed a couple hundred sales and auction results, the earliest serial number I found on a Polo is 34,0xx, dating to 1979, seen on the 7661, 761, 7131, and 8131. I found Polos with serial numbers as late as 55,xxx, dating to the early '90s.

In my survey, the large square 8131 outnumbers the 7661 nearly 2:1. While the square Polo may have been more popular at the time, the round Polo's relative rarity and a general preference for round watches nowadays makes it much harder to find. You could go to your favorite watch marketplace or call up a random 47th Street dealer to find a square Polo every day of the week; that's not necessarily the case with the 7661. 

The smaller round references are much more common than the 7661. This actually isn't true of the square model though: I documented more 7131s compared to the smaller 8131. At just 25mm, it's possible the "full-size" 7131 always had a strong unisex appeal.

Besides the most common bracelet reference C701, the other typical bracelet references you'll see are:

• C705: Diamond-set gadroons
• C715: Diamond-set gadroons and bracelet links
• C725: Diamond-set bracelet links

The diamond setting on the case and dial should match that of the bracelet.

Soon after the original time-only Polos, Piaget introduced the Polo Date, ref. 15561 (32mm) and 15791 (30mm), and the Polo Day-Date ref. 15562. They seem to be less common than the time-only models, but this is an example where rarity doesn't mean desirability. The added date and ticking seconds hand (remember, quartz), just make these less attractive than the two-handers.

I often see these listed for around the same price as a 7661, and to me, they should trade for lower prices. Yes, they're still Polos and they still look cool, but they're not The Polo.

The rarest vintage Polos are those with automatic movements. Only a handful are known; I documented less than 10.

For example, two of these Automatic Polos (here and here) have a custom dial featuring the face of an Omani royal, presumably a special order. Interestingly, just two digits separate their serial numbers, which hints that there might be at least two more examples from this special order.

"It's possible these were to answer requests or to explore new possibilities with the Polo," Piaget's Bourgead said. "However, this was never the main production."

Automatic movements have been seen in both a 34mm case (ref. 14661) and 27mm case (ref. 561). The 14661 has a date window, while the 561 doesn't, using Piaget's caliber 25P. The smaller version feels more pure. There are also automatic square Polos (ref. 5131), which are even rarer than the round versions.

Bourgeaud also said that perhaps a dozen Polos were fitted with Piaget's ultra-thin mechanical caliber 9P.

Triple Calendar Polo: There are two known examples of a Polo Triple Calendar Moonphase that dates to 1986. It sold at a small auction six years ago for about $7,000. Bourgeaud said he only knows of this one calendar Polo. These were actually part of a 250-piece limited-edition run of cases and movements, but it seems that only a couple were produced as the Polo 15908 C701.

Before the Polo, Piaget had been reticent to use model names because it wanted to create an entire Piaget Style.

"Before the Polo, you used to just wear Piaget the way you'd wear Chanel," Jean-Bernard Forot, told me last year. "The Piaget family wasn't focused on creating icons, but on creating a style."

With the Polo, they managed to create both.

"People are just starting to discover the Emperador," Harris of Mendel Watches said. 

A few weeks ago, I was at the Miami Beach Antique Show looking at a couple of vintage Polos in one dealer's booth when the dealer stopped me and pulled out a black-dial Emperador.

"This is the one you really want," he said. So for those looking for something past the potential hype of the Polo, here's your hint. While I prefer the Polo – this wrist can only handle so much opulence – there's no denying the Emerpador has a certain mafioso appeal. 

While I love some of the stone dials, a plain-jane Polo is already such a statement there's really no need for anything more.

Condition is important, too. The reference and serial number are engraved on the Polo's caseback and there should also be a punched hallmark. There's an additional hallmark on the side of the case at nine o'clock. Often, this side hallmark has been polished away. Over the years, so many Polos have passed through so many different hands and been polished and polished again, losing some of their original edges and finishing each time.

While there are a number of sizes, the large 7661 and 8131 are by far the most collectible. Since they're all gold, the watches have a lot of presence, but they actually wear quite small by modern standards.

So how much should you pay for one?

"They're still a good value at $7,000 to $8,000," Harris of Mendel Watches said of the large Polos. As interest increases, he said the large models would still make sense around $10,000, with stone dials going for a premium over that. "There's still room to grow," he said. But, he's worried about the current hype cycle.

"A lot of big dealers and influencers are talking about them, and it's creating a bit of an unhealthy environment," Harris said.

Still, there's a certain intrinsic value in the Polo that people understand. It's the cultural impact, the watchmaking history, or maybe just all that gold.

The two years since the release of the Vacheron 222 feel more like 20, and the hype around sports watches has died down quite a bit. But the Piaget Polo was never exactly like any of those other sports watches anyway. When Piaget released the Polo S in 2016 as its entry into the modern sports watch category, it left many confused.

It's a decent watch, but it just doesn't feel very Piaget. The original Polo from 1979 had a clear point of view that set it apart from those sports watches that came before it. Perhaps it makes sense that, in 2024, collectors are discovering it all over again.

Acknowledgments: A special thanks to Alain Bourgeaud, Piaget's Officer of Patrimony, for sharing his time, wisdom, and love for the Polo. Thanks also to dealer Mr. Knospe of Plus-Ultra, who is a wealth of knowledge about vintage Piaget and patiently answered my many questions, including about the Polo's reference number system; and finally to Harris of Mendel Watches for sharing his knowledge about the Piaget Polo.