- Piaget has released the limited-edition Andy Warhol ‘Collage’ watch, which features a pop art dial inspired by the artist’s self-portraits
- The timepiece sees yellow Namibian serpentine, pink opal, and green chrysoprase set within a black onyx base
- The 45mm x 43mm stepped case is crafted from yellow gold and based on the 1970s Piaget Black Tie worn by Warhol himself
- Limited to 50 examples, the Piaget Andy Warhol ‘Collage’ is priced at $128,000AUD
Before there was legendary pop artist Andy Warhol of Campbell’s Soup cans and Marilyn Monroe fame, there was Andrew Warhola, the choreic son of Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants who spent much of his eighth year confined to bed with a neurological condition. During this time, he spent the hours drawing and creating scrapbooks by clipping out and pasting images from comic books and Hollywood magazines — an early sign of the art form that would come to define his transition from Warhola to the Warhol we know today.
Beginning his career as a commercial illustrator for shoe manufacturer I. Miller, Warhol began to sketch shoes as a hobby, creating whimsical heels and stilettos embellished with gold leaf, each shoe representing a famous character. He continued to gain recognition by printing books of his illustrations, including 25 Cats Name Sam and One Blue Pussy (1957), and was subsequently hired to design album covers for RCA Records and commissioned by clients like Tiffany & Co.
His pop art career carried a similar air of commerciality, a marked deviation from other gallery artists at the time, who would typically only anonymously engage in commercial work to make ends meet. Warhol’s approach saw the humble Campbell’s Soup can elevated to the role of a muse, while eternal muse Marilyn Monroe was stylised as a commodity and placed alongside silkscreen prints like 100 Soup Cans, 100 Coke Bottles, and 100 Dollar Bills.
Running in tandem to Warhol’s art career was a penchant for collecting, the scale of which grew in proportion to his success. Relatively indiscriminate in his object selection—his collections included everything from personal memorabilia, carousel horses, and cookie jars to watches and cars (despite not being able to drive, he owned a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow)—the full magnitude of his collection wasn’t known until his death, with his collections including 313 watches.
Of those 313 watches, seven were Piagets, with the maison buying back four of those when Warhol’s personal effects were auctioned at Sotheby’s in 1988. Among them was a reference 15102 with a yellow gold case and black dial. Designed by Jean-Claude Gueit and produced between 1972 and 1977, the timepiece later became known as the Black Tie and was reimagined for the contemporary era for Piaget’s 140th anniversary in 2014. However, it was only last year, in 2024, that a partnership between Piaget and the Andy Warhol Foundation allowed the maison to rechristen the Black Tie, now known as the ‘Andy Warhol’.
Earlier this year, at Watches and Wonders 2025, Piaget introduced a suite of stone dial Andy Warhol watches, fitted with meteorite, tiger’s eye, and malachite dials. Now, the maison is paying direct homage to the artist’s work with the Piaget Andy Warhol ‘Collage’, which saw Stéphanie Sivrière, creative director of watches and jewellery at Piaget, and her team immerse themselves in the pop artist’s work courtesy of the archives at the Andy Warhol Foundation. Rather than pop Marilyn Monroe or a soup can on the dial, Piaget and the Andy Warhol Foundation decided to take a slightly more subtle approach, honing in on Warhol’s love of colour.
The resultant timepiece is housed within a 45mm x 43mm gadrooned yellow gold case, and sees a marquetry dial with a black onyx base (the same as Warhol’s own reference 15102 from 1973) fitted with inlays of yellow Namibian serpentine, pink opal, and green chrysoprase. The yellow, pink, and green gemstones are arranged into an abstract form inspired by one of Andy Warhol’s most celebrated Polaroid collage self-portraits from 1986. Flip the timepiece over and you’ll find the self-portrait in question emblazoned on the caseback.
The Piaget Andy Warhol ‘Collage’ is powered by the in-house calibre 501P1, an automatic time-only movement with a 40-hour power reserve. Presented on a green alligator leather strap that complements the warm tones of the yellow gold case, it’s an undeniable stunner — and an exemplar example of how to do an artist collaboration without being too on the nose (namely, by keeping the artist’s nose off the dial).
Price: $128,000AUD
Availability: 50 examples
Model: Andy Warhol ‘Collage’ (ref. G0A50243)
Case size: 45mm x 43mm
Movement: 501P1 (automatic)
Water resistance: 3ATM
Functions: hours, minutes
Power reserve: 40 hours
Words by T. Angel
