Today marks a very important milestone in the growth of the Arab Watch Club; after over 9 months of design work and several iterations, the club has released its 15th Special Edition since their establishment in 2015, and this time it is a very unique take on the popular Piaget Polo Chronograph Panda.
The project started in 2021 sometimes during the summer period when Piaget was introducing its latest Polo Chronograph Panda Blue and later its Polo 36mm. The idea came to us whilst visiting the manufacture in the summer and proposing to the team in Geneva to start a new collaboration with a fresh take on the Polo.
To be honest this was not our first proposed design!! We wanted to create a Sport watch in steel but with a little bit of bling in it; meaning diamonds or rainbow bezel! So we started thinking of a simple design with a Time Only Polo and Gem set indexes inside the dial instead of a full rainbow bezel.
Frankly, not a lot of members were keen on such a take on a sports watch and also its appeal was less attractive knowing that the Daytona Rainbow has perfected this kind of approach.
So we went back to the drawing boards and this time decided to upgrade the watch to have a complication; one that everyone appreciates and admires; The Chronograph.
The Polo Chronograph “Panda” gave us more room for customisation and creativity and also a much more functional watch to go with.
Let’s star with the Dial composition: It was very important to us to choose a shade a of Salmon as the base color for the dial to give it a strong sumerish look that has not been seen before on a Polo. We opted for a more pinkish shade of salmong and decided to contrast it with a very unique Kakhi subdials. A combination of colors that is very striking and unused before.
All the numbers on the dial are “indian numerals” and we also changed the date wheel to keep the consistency, with the lighter shade of salmon on the background.
The Chronograph seconds hands has been modified to match the color of the subdials and remain also in Kakhi. Similarly, Piaget is now also written in Kakhi.
The case is a 42mm stainless steel case, similar to the current Polo Chronograph model and the movement is the Manufacture Piaget 1160P self-winding mechanical movement with chronograph and date.
This self-winding chronograph movement measures just 5.72 mm thick, while displaying the hours, minutes, a chronograph with central seconds, a 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hour counter at 9 o’clock and date at 6 o’clock.
The 1160P calibre provides remarkable accuracy and reliability thanks to its column wheel, vertical coupling clutch and stop seconds. Vibrating at a frequency of 28,800 vph (4 Hz) and offering a power reserve of 50 hours.
The 1160P movement showcases meticulous finishes, such as the oscillating weight engraved with the Piaget coat-of-arms and decorated with circular Côtes de Genève, the circular-grained mainplate, bevelled bridges and blued screws.
Another special customisation added to the watches is the unique color of the rubber and leather straps that accompanies all watches – the Kakhi colors were designed to keep the harmony of colors with the dial and push the boundaries of contrasts play.
There were only 30 pieces produced for this Edition; all pre-sold to the Club members, numbered “one of 30” and with each members name fully engraved on the case back.
