Piaget x Andy Warhol: This Watch Pops!

By Amy Elliott | November 06, 2025

Last month, Piaget unveiled the Andy Warhol Watch – Collage, produced in partnership with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The premise of this collaboration is informed by something that’s relatively unknown, even to hardcore jewelry lovers: Warhol was a prolific watch (and jewelry) collector.

At the time of his death in 1987, even those closest to the artist were unaware he had been quietly amassing a remarkable horde of treasures—and stashing them in secret hiding places throughout his NYC home. Dozens of luxury watches, it was reported, were found in the canopy above his bed.

Google turns up scant info on this aspect of Warhol’s legacy; I was only recently enlightened myself, when I wrote about a Seaman Schepps bracelet formerly owned by Warhol that had been acquired by an unknown party through a Sotheby’s auction in 1988 and had somehow found its way to Tiina Smith, a highly regarded estate and vintage jeweler in Boston.

Warhol had a passion for Piaget watches, in particular, and owned eight models, according to The New York Times. His favored timepiece was the 1502, marked by its elegant cushion-shape case. He acquired one in 1973, and it soon came to be known as the “Black Tie watch” because he was often seen wearing it out and about at parties and galas.

Piaget Andy Warhol watch — “We spent six months researching Andy Warhol before we settled on a direction,” said Piaget artistic director Stéphanie Sivrière. In the end, she and the Andy Warhol Foundation landed on a color-forward design that echoed the artist’s collages.

The pop art icon also had a personal connection to the many Piaget watches he purchased in the 1970s: In 1979 he was introduced to Yves Piaget, great-grandson of Georges-Édouard Piaget (who founded the business in 1874), and the two became close friends.

As the 1502 ascended to cult status, insiders began referring to it as “Andy Warhol watch,” and that became its unofficial nickname at Piaget and among the piece’s devotees. Last year, the Swiss watchmaker entered into a relationship with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to formalize the use of his name for the watch.

Piaget’s new Collage watch, inspired by Warhol’s collage series, is the first release in its collaboration with the Andy Warhol Foundation and will be limited to 50 editions. The watch has a green leather strap, Piaget’s 501P1 self-winding mechanical calibre, and a slimline power unit with a 40-hour power reserve.

The dial’s inlaid marquetry motif features paper-thin slices of yellow Namibian serpentine, pink opal, and green chrysoprase on a base of black onyx, the same color as the seminal “Black Tie watch” of 1973. The stone slices are arranged to mimic one of Warhol’s Polaroid self-portrait collages from 1986.

Piaget Andy Warhol stone slices — *Slices of pink opal, green chrysoprase, and yellow serpentine are arranged on black onyx to give the watch dial a collage look.*

These design elements reflect the vision of Piaget artistic director Stéphanie Sivrière working in tandem with the Andy Warhol Foundation, which facilitated her visit to an archive of the artist’s work. Sivrière and her team also attended art exhibitions and devoured countless books to examine the artist’s mixed media techniques, personal fascinations, and enduring legacy.

“With such a wealth of material to draw on, it was extremely difficult to know where to begin,” Sivrière notes in a press release. “Should we look to one of his most famous works and iterate on a banana, a can of soup, or perhaps Marilyn Monroe? We quickly learned that we wanted to express Warhol but without being obvious. To suggest rather than to show.

Piaget Andy Warhol back — *The 18k yellow gold caseback has a vertical satin finish engraved with Warhol’s signature and a replica of his Polaroid self-portrait collage that inspired the watch.*

“For their part, the foundation encouraged us to approach the project with freedom and to interpret Warhol in Piaget’s expressive, unbounded style,” added Sivrière.

The two parties agreed that in this first year of the partnership, the focus should fall on color, a notable feature in Warhol’s work, which often drew on the bright, eye-catching tropes of advertising imagery and iconography.

“The result is a watch that tells the story of our collaboration but that stands on its own as a piece of watchmaking art,” Sivrière said. “A collectible inspired by one of history’s most prolific collectors.”

Top: Piaget collaborated with the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts to create a watch modeled on the iconic artist’s colorful collages.

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