In the history of watchmaking’s quest for the infinitely small, Piaget has written some of the finest pages. In 1957 the workshop in La Côte-aux-Fées developed the Calibre 9P, an extraordinarily thin, manually wound watch movement. In 1960 their watch-makers came out with Calibre 12P movement, just 2.3 millimetres thick – the slimmest self-winding movement in the world. These developments opened up new possibilities to Piaget’s designers in their search to create sophisticated timepieces. The jewel watch was Piaget’s gift to the world of watchmaking, its extreme thinness reflecting its interior perfection. Alongside their coin watches, ring watches, brooch watches and cufflink-watches, Piaget began creating their first matinee necklaces. In 1957 Piaget launched a men’s watch that was to become an icon: the Emperador. The company opened a manufacturing facility in Geneva that was exclusively devoted to the creation of jewellery. In 1959, Piaget opened their shop.