At the age of 19, Georges Édouard Piaget opened a small watch workshop on his parent's farm in the
Swiss town of La Côte-aux-Fées in 1874. He initially focused on producing movement components and high-precision calibers. Within a few years, he was supplying his creations to some of the Swiss watch industry's major brands.
Georges-Édouard's son, Timothée Piaget, took the company in a different direction in the 1920s. Under his leadership, they transitioned from a supplier to an independent watch manufacturer. Gérald and Valentin Piaget, grandsons of the company's founder, continued their father's work and had the family name registered as a trademark in 1943. Furthermore, the brothers began producing ultra-flat timepieces, a trend the business continues to this day.
Introduced in 1957, Piaget's manual caliber 9P marked a milestone in the manufacturer's history. At only 2 mm thick, it was among the thinnest movements of its time. Piaget followed this up in 1960 with the
automatic caliber 12P, itself only 2.3 mm thick. This movement would go on to spend decades as the world's flattest automatic movement. Like many other brands, Piaget turned to quartz movements and watches in the 1970s. The caliber 7P followed in its mechanical counterparts' footsteps as one of the smallest of its kind.
Today, Piaget belongs to the luxury goods conglomerate
Richemont, which also owns Cartier, A. Lange & Söhne, and IWC. Chabi Nouri has served as the company's CEO since 2017 and is one of few women in leadership positions in the watch industry. Before taking over as CEO, she served as Piaget's International Managing Director of Sales and Marketing.