For over 150 years, the house of Piaget has launched myriad jewelry and watch collections which draw their inspiration from the fine arts. The house, in conjunction with its partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, is bringing out in a limited edition of just 50 pieces the Andy Warhol Collage watch, an iconic watch whose dial is decorated with colored stones arranged like marquetry, reminiscent of the artist’s abstract works. The watch is nestled into a 45mm yellow gold case in a nod to one of the seven Piaget watches that Andy Warhol owned, Piaget’s Black Tie timepiece.

The colorful, ornamental stones that make up the dial of the Andy Warhol Collage Limited Edition watch are works of art in and of themselves. The dial is in black onyx decorated with « collage pieces » of yellow serpentine from Namibia, pink opal and apple green chrysoprase. The watch is outfitted with a strap in deep and intense green, an in-house automatic 501P1 Piaget movement and a power reserve of 40 hours. The back of the case is engraved with an auto portrait of Andy Warhol, the Piaget logo and Andy Warhol’s signature. This is clearly a collectors watch that the artist himself, who had a collection of over 300 watches, would probably have collected himself. 

Piaget’s Black Tie timepiece was first brought out in 1972 and remains one of those timeless icons still today with its large dial bordered by its signature gadroons (highly decorative convex edging). It caught the eye of the contemporary artist Andy Warhol in 1973 when he purchased the yellow gold piece with its anthracite grey galvanic dial powered by the Beta 21 quartz movement.  The Black Tie joined the ranks of Andy Warhol’s six other Piaget watches, four of which are now kept in Piaget’s Private Collection. The watch was brought out in a limited series of white or yellow gold until 1977. 

Yves Piaget and Andy Warhol met in 1979 through Gerry Grinberg’s company, the exclusive distributor of Piaget’s luxury watches in the United States. Developing a close friendship with Piaget, Andy Warhol became a full member of the Piaget Society, travelling with Yves Piaget to events held in New York and Palm Beach, and joining him for long nights at Studio 54 or Chez Régine.  ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette https://www.piaget.com/us-en

See also: https://thegourmetgazette.com/2025/04/17/moments-in-time-andy-warhol-time/