Watch sizing is a remarkably cyclical phenomenon, with a stylistic pendulum swinging back and forth between larger and smaller designs over the years. The current industry-wide trend towards smaller timepieces shows no signs of slowing anytime soon, and perhaps the clearest example of this trend in action is in the fan-favorite stainless steel luxury sports watch sector. Piaget is the latest brand to bring out a more compact variant of its flagship sports watch, markedly changing the character of the Polo line in the process. The new Piaget Polo Date 36mm showcases an elegant, reserved side of the Polo line’s design, with charismatically reworked proportions and a classic colorway.
Naturally, the 36mm-wide stainless steel case is the most substantial update to the Piaget Polo Date 36mm, but the visual shift here goes deeper than a simple change in diameter. Compared to the 42mm-wide full-size Polo, this new model is significantly smaller, and sports a host of other visual tweaks in initial images. As a start, the smaller size of the Polo Date 36mm places greater emphasis on the flowing chamfered lugs, giving the appearance of a longer, lighter lug structure. By contrast, the Polo’s signature brushed and polished rounded-square bezel takes on a proportionally broader stance in images, further visually compacting the dial and moving this 36mm design away from the open, airy, almost empty feel of the larger Polo. With that said, this is still instantly recognizable as a Polo design, showcasing Piaget’s less aggressive approach to sports watch design while maintaining its reputation for slimness at 8.8mm-thick. Despite the Polo’s sporting connotations, however, Piaget rates the new model for only 50 meters of water resistance.
The dial of the new Piaget Polo Date 36mm may follow the classic Polo series pattern, but the shift to a smaller size gives these familiar elements a fresh character. As with the case, the reduction in size primarily works to take away the sometimes excessively spacious look of the 42mm model in images, resulting in a clean and balanced presentation. The deep blue grooved sunburst dial, tapering faceted indices, and skeletonized alpha hands are all Polo series staples, and help to keep this new iteration feeling timeless and handsome.
Piaget powers the new Polo Date 36mm with its in-house 500P1 automatic movement. The 500P1 is one of Piaget’s core movement platforms, and it offers a middling 40 hours of power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate. By contrast, the 500P1’s finishing is anything but middling, with blued screws, circular Côtes de Genève across both the bridges and the engraved rotor, polished anglage, and perlage for the mainplate. To complete the package, Piaget fits the Polo Date 36mm with a clean navy blue calf leather deployant strap.
In the midst of an industry-wide trend towards smaller iterations of existing designs, the new Piaget Polo Date 36mm is undoubtedly timely, but also offers a new, more focused perspective on the classic Polo design. The new Piaget Polo Date 36mm will be available starting April 19, 2023, exclusively through the brand’s e-commerce platform. MSRP for the Piaget Polo Date 36mm stands at $11,000 USD as of press time. For more details, please visit the brand’s website.
