Piaget Cal.1080 c1958

Piaget

Piaget is a Swiss luxury watchmaker and jeweler. Founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées, Piaget is currently a subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont group. Piaget was founded as a manufacturer of watch movements but began marketing its own line of watches in the 20th century.

Description

Here we have a wonderful, original, unrestored and untouched gents Piaget in completely original condition. This watch carries the high grade calibre 1080, 17 jewel hand-wound movement which is also in sparkling condition. Having just received a full overhaul and service from our vintage specialist watchmaker, this watch is now perfectly suitable for everyday use should you so wish. It will also make a wonderful addition to any collection.

The Dial

This is a truly remarkable, original, silver dial with a waffle effect outer circle. This dial carries original mixed arrowhead hour indices and standard Arabic numerals at ‘3 – 6 – 9 – 12’, these being swept by the original ‘Dauphine’ hands, all of these beautiful aspects give the watch a perfect presence on the wrist. This dial is completely original, however this dial shows very few signs of ageing, which is why we have decided to leave this dial completely alone to retain the originality and charm.

This dial is correctly signed ‘Piaget’ with ‘Swiss’ at the very bottom of the dial.

As this dial is in original, unrestored condition, this has been left untouched by our restoration team due to its superb condition. Usually, we restore the dials of the watches we sell, however we decided in this case to leave it alone, due to its unusually good condition and to retain its originality and charm for those who prefer this. It also helps to contrast with almost all of the other watch dials you see on our website, which have been restored. The hands, likewise, have also been left in their original untouched condition.

Please note, studio lights, professional-grade digital cameras, and macro lenses can be very unkind to an unrestored vintage watch dial. Also the dial here measures less than 1.25 inches across, so the image you’re seeing may be between 5 – 25 times larger than the watch itself. Therefore please keep in mind you are seeing many tiny flaws which cannot be seen, or will be very hard to see with the naked eye, even under close examination. Suffice to say, on the wrist, in natural light, this dial looks much better and carries a great deal more charm than the photographs portray.

The Movement

As mentioned above, this watch houses the Piaget Watch Co Calibre 1080, 17 Jewel hand movement which as can be seen is in sparkling condition.

The watch movement is in stunning condition and has been fully overhauled and serviced by our vintage specialist watchmaker. This involves the complete dismantling of the movement to each of its component parts, ultrasonic cleaning, microscope inspection and then careful reassembly and oiling, ready for final testing and careful calibration.

This means the movement has been completely disassembled, cleaned, inspected and rebuilt using only the correct original parts where required before careful calibration and testing. Upon returning to stock, the watch is now running to within +10 seconds per day! This is truly outstanding for any vintage watch of this age! We therefore have no hesitations in offering this watch with our 12 months’ warranty*

This movement is correctly signed ‘Piaget’, ‘Fab Suisse’, ‘Seventeen 17 Jewels’ and the calibre 1080

With care and with regular servicing, say every 4 years, we would fully expect this watch to run quite happily for many decades to come. Our watchmaker commented that he found the movement to be especially clean and in excellent condition. We are therefore more than happy to offer this watch with our 12 months’ warranty* and to assist with servicing again in the future.

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the list price is paid.

The Watch Case

The incredible stainless steel case is of a bold, three-piece design and measures 35mm, excluding the correct unsigned crown. It is in tip-top condition from every aspect.

This watch case has been carefully inspected for fatigue marks and there are none. It has received a light clean and gentle hand-polish, simply to remove any tarnish and to bring back to the almost new condition you see here. Even under close examination, there are no scratches, dings or signs of wear, visible to the naked eye which leads us to suspect that this watch has seen little, if any, use. The case-back is of full thickness and has never been inscribed.

The interior of the case-back is correctly signed ‘Piaget Swiss’ with the correct case serial number 10069. The exterior of the case back is also correctly signed with ‘Antimagnetic IncaBloc’ and ‘Stainless Steel’.

As ever, our standard advice applies: Vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Strap and Buckle

The watch is fitted with a high quality brown pebble effect strap and steel buckle, which we feel suits the watch perfectly. If, however, a different colour or style of strap is preferred, please let us know and we will do our best to oblige, free of charge. We carry tan, conker, dark brown burgundy and black straps in stock, in plain, padded leather, alligator, crocodile or lizard skin.

Box and Papers

Although there are no original papers with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating this watch to c1958.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

This watch comes complete with a high quality hardwood presentation box shown in the photographs is included.

If you would like to pay by bank transfer we will be pleased to assist you with this and pass on a 3% saving to you. Paying by bank transfer for a 3% saving will not affect your 12 months warranty. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and unfortunately out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges, however attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those that happen to visit the UK on occasion we are of course more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no quibble sale or return policy.

In Conclusion

This is a first class example of a top quality Piaget, in stainless steel with the superb Piaget Cal.1080 handwound movement. The movement is of a high grade and on a par with watches far more expensive than this. Piaget watches are highly collectible and the rarity of this watch means the value will always remain strong.

A word on our prices – We always try our hardest to acquire the very highest quality watches we can find, before restoring them to the highest possible standards. We then offer these at the fairest prices we can, taking into account our pre and post-sales care and service. This approach means we will never be the cheapest, but nor will we be the most expensive. Indeed there are some well-known stores in West London which are highly successful charging between two to three times the price you see here. We, therefore, consider our prices to be fair, given the quality of watches we have to offer.

Please note, we also welcome part exchanges. If you have a watch or a small collection for sale, please contact us as we will be happy to discuss this.

We will also be happy to Service your watch, Repair your watch or Restore your watch, all at ‘sensible’ prices. Please see here.

If you have any questions please call us on 020 7727 7095 or if calling from overseas on +44 207 727 7095.

Please take a look at our other fine vintage gold watches.

Thank you.