The Exquisite, Precious-Stone Return of Andy Warhol's Favorite Watch
The newly released Piaget Andy Warhol Clou de Paris watch was inevitable.
Outside of giving us historic and fantastical pop art, Warhol was an avid watch collector, with his Piaget Black Tie being his favorite go-to watch.
Part of the Swiss watchmaker's 150th-anniversary celebrations, the Andy Warhol Clou de Paris reworks the artist's favorite Black Tie timepiece into a piece of wristwear that wouldn't feel out of place in the glamorous halls of the iconic Studio 54 nightclub Warhol frequented.
The case is a large 45mm, taking the form of Piaget's "stepped" cushion shape, a design just as ubiquitous as the Maison's famous Polo watches. Yet the star of the show has to be the Clou de Paris's blue meteorite dial — a creative feat that took Piaget 10 months to perfect (blue meteorite is a rare material to come by).
Now, if you are deep in the horology trenches, you'll know that the 1972 Black Tie was already widely dubbed the "Andy Warhol" in the watch community for decades.
The collaboration between The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Piaget makes the naming official and modernizes a watch that is a grail for vintage hunters worldwide
Alongside the release of the Andy Warhol Clou de Paris, Piaget has relaunched its "made-to-order" customization program.
In short, if you were to cop the Clou de Paris — available as of November 1 from Piaget for $60,000 — you'd be able to personalize the watch with various stone dials if blue meteorite doesn't sartorially match your fit, as well as change the strap, hands, and case material.
Though the king of pop art's Piaget Polo ref. 9088 (a secret timepiece fitted into a miniature gold bar) is still one of my all-time grails; the Clou de Paris scratches that itch of those of us looking for dressier '70s-style watches as vintage wristwear continues to dominate horology.
