Wearing jeans I put on each of the Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater watches and modeled them for myself. Disregarding the price, I wondered what type of costume I would need to wear to pull one of these off. Piaget makes a great tuxedo watch, but this lavish cushion-style timepiece doesn’t feel as formal as it does regal. There is a kingly quality to the overall presentation of that much gold and obvious effort in the dial. Minute repeaters (which use a series of chimes to tell you the time) are a fun and complex complication, but ultimately useless today. The feature is used to impress onlookers… such as whatever equivalent of a royal court you may have around you.

Unfortunately, the minute repeater’s slide lever is very visible, but not the hammer and gongs. At least not on the dial. It would have been a sweet icing on the cake to have all the show on the dial-side. Probably too difficult given the thickness of the movement. Piaget does however highlight the regulator for the minute repeater that spins around rapidly when the complication is in operation. A small golden window frames to draw your attention. Aside from that element, the mostly negligible dial is just dauphine-style hands and baton hour markers.