First of Its Kind, Last of Its Kind tells the story of an exceptional accessory and the archival piece that inspired it.
One could argue that Andy Warhol — who amassed hundreds of Bakelite jewelry pieces and ceramic cookie jars — was as enthusiastic about collecting objects, which he’d source from flea markets or Madison Avenue antiques shops, as he was about making art. His four-story townhouse on East 66th Street is said to have contained so much ephemera that he could walk through only the kitchen and the bedroom. Among his most prized pieces were his watches: The Pop Art pioneer, who started obsessively buying them in the 1970s, owned more than 300, including eight handcrafted pieces by Piaget. In 1979, Warhol was introduced to Yves Piaget, the great-grandson of Georges-Édouard Piaget, who founded the Swiss watchmaking company in 1874. He became Yves’s confidant, and the Piaget family considered him part of their inner circle; he attended galas with them in New York and Palm Beach, Fla. Each year at Christmas, Yves sent Warhol Swiss chocolate, and the artist kept those boxes, too, using them to store Yves’s handwritten holiday cards and invitations to Piaget parties.
This month, in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation, Piaget has launched a limited-edition Collage watch, conceived after the artistic director Stéphanie Sivrière and her team spent more than six months studying Warhol’s archival materials, research catalogs and exhibitions. The new timepiece — in an edition of 50 — features a dial with a marquetry of thinly sliced yellow Namibian serpentine, pink opal and turquoise chrysoprase gemstone (creating an abstract rectangular pattern inspired by Warhol’s Polaroids), as well as a dark green leather strap. Its 45-millimeter case, cast in 18-karat yellow gold, and black onyx base nod to the design of the artist’s own Piaget watch from the 1970s, and the case back is engraved with an unmistakable silhouette: Warhol’s iconic platinum wig.
Photo assistant: Maki Hirata. Set designer’s assistant: Jeanny Bachelin
The post A Watch Engraved With Andy Warhol’s Wig appeared first on New York Times.
