Combination of art, technology: Watch
SINGAPORE (JP): For Yves G. Piaget, the fourth generation of the famous Piaget family, a watch is a harmonious combination of art and technology.
Looking ebullient, Piaget warmly greeted his affluent guests at the newly opened Piaget boutique in the Ngee Ann City Department Store in Singapore last week.
The elegant boutique is home to the latest collections of exclusive watches and jewelry pieces produced by the 125-year old Piaget company.
The boutique displays new lines of Piaget luxury watches and refined jewelry, ranging from rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants and lines of male and female watches.
"Our collections really favored by young and energetic clients," explained Piaget, while showing off his Possession collection, featuring a gold ring adorned with six faceted diamonds.
"Our clients are younger than they used to be in the last ten years so our designs have to be adjusted to their needs."
He said information technology had given a chance for young people to get rich. "Look at people like Bill Gates or those in the Silicon Valley. They are making a lot of money. They are some of our emerging clients," he said.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post, Kompas and Harper's Bazaar, Piaget said the opening of his new boutique in Singapore was part of the company's grand design to expand its market in Asia and the subcontinent.
"Despite the current crisis, Asia, including Japan and Taiwan, has been our biggest market over the last few years," he Piaget.
Asia has been doing very well, he said. "There are a lot of rich people around here who want to wear quality and luxury watches and jewelry," said Piaget, adding he had quite a lot of faithful customers in Indonesia.
Yet, the company has to struggle with counterfeiting. "We have found many fake Piaget watches and jewelry in some countries in Asia, such as Thailand and Taiwan," Piaget said.
He said counterfeiting was a global problem that was becoming more and more sophisticated. "Laymen would find it difficult to distinguish between an original and a bogus Piaget and I really feel sorry for them," he said.
He said the company would take various forms of legal action to stop counterfeiting.
Piaget said it was challenging making the company survive in this present competitive and open business world.
"This a family company and it is my duty to keep it working," said Piaget.
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth in La Cote-aux-Fees, Switzerland, Yves G. Piaget first obtained a bachelor of science degree, then a watch and clock maker designers diploma at the University of Neuchatel, followed by a degree in gemmology from the American Gemmology Institute in Los Angeles.
Piaget is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Centre Suisse d'Electronique et de Micro technique.
The Piaget company joined the Vendome Luxury in l988.
With 500 watch artisans working at the company's workshop in Geneva, Switzerland, Piaget produces not more than 20,000 dress watches a year for its opulent clienteles worldwide.
"We cannot increase our production of dress watches. They are more of an artwork than a mass-factory made item," Piaget ended. (raw)