Among all the modern materials available within the luxury watch landscape, ceramic stands out as the one that has gained the most traction over the last decade or so. From ceramic cases and bezels to ceramic bracelets and dials, the scratch-proof and fade-proof material has become a favorite among watch companies and consumers. Piaget is the latest high-end watchmaker to join the ceramic watch club with its newest release: the Piaget Polo Skeleton Ceramic watch. This is Piaget’s first foray into ceramics, and it is fitting the brand would select the sporty Polo to showcase its efforts.
The watch sports a 42mm jet-black case that’s only 7.5mm thick (one millimeter thicker than the steel version). According to Piaget, it took three years to develop the new Polo Skeleton Ceramic watch, and its greatest challenge was to ensure the watch’s signature ultra-thin profile in ceramic form. As such, Piaget had to build a new case from square one. The black ceramic case, bezel, and crown are accompanied by a titanium container — partly treated with black DLC to blend in with the ceramic — that houses the remaining components. While Piaget doesn’t make any mention of water resistance in the official press release, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) page for the model lists the water resistance rating at 50 meters, which is an increase from the 30 meters of other Polo Skeleton models.
The matching black brushed flange is punctuated with a dozen lumed trapezoid indexes, furnished with blue Super-LumiNova, as are the pair of hands at the center of the open-worked dial. For the first time, the “PIAGET” inscription on the dial side of the blue rotor is also luminous.
While ceramic may be new to Piaget, skeletonization certainly isn’t, first appearing in the brand’s catalog in 1948. Fast forward to 2021, and that’s when Piaget debuted the Polo Skeleton model, first in steel followed by rose gold and white gold. As with previous editions, the dial and caseback on this new ceramic and titanium iteration offer an expansive view of the in-house-made Caliber 1200S1 ultra-thin skeleton automatic movement inside the case. The 2.4mm-thick, 3 Hz movement supplies 44 hours of power reserve. As expected from Piaget, the finishing is intricate, with circular and sunburst satin-brushing on the wheels, plate, and bridges, beveled edges, polished screws, and an engraved coat-of-arms on the blue rotor.
The Piaget Polo Skeleton Ceramic watch is furnished with a black rubber strap with a steel and titanium folding clasp. It’s also accompanied by an additional blue rubber strap, which can be swapped out easily thanks to the SingleTouch interchangeable strap system that first appeared on the Piaget Polo Perpetual Calendar Ultra-Thin in 2023.
Judging from the press photos, the Polo Skeleton looks good in ceramic. To tell you the truth, until this announcement I wasn’t aware that Piaget had never dabbled in ceramic before. After this first release, though, I’m sure there will be plenty more ceramic Piaget watches in the near future. I find the combination of black and varying shades of gray, accented with dashes of blue and pops of pink by way of the jewels, to be an appealing one. Skeletonized watches can be a controversial genre, but as far as legibility goes, I think it’s well executed here. The retail price of the Piaget Polo Skeleton Ceramic watch is 40,000 CHF (equivalent to about $47,200 USD at the time of publishing), about $13,000 more than the steel version and $3,800 less than the rose gold model. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
