In Conversation With Christophe Bourrie, High Jewellery & Exceptional Creations Global Director at Piaget On Collector’s, India Expansion & More

Piaget occupies an unusual space in the luxury world. Unlike houses like Cartier or Van Cleef & Arpels, which trace their roots to jewellery before expanding into watchmaking, Piaget started with watches, precision instruments created by Georges-Édouard Piaget in 1874, and only later evolved into high jewellery. That reversal of trajectory has shaped everything about how the Maison operates today, from their technical approach to design to the way they positions their most exceptional creations. Christophe Bourrie, High Jewellery & Exceptional Creations Global Director at Piaget, has several years building the brand's presence across some of the world's fastest-growing luxury markets. Based in Geneva and earlier between Singapore, and Hong Kong, he's witnessed firsthand how India's UHNW clientele approaches high jewellery differently from established markets, and how that difference is reshaping the way global luxury houses think about their offerings. During a recent visit to India, Bourrie sat down to discuss the brand's evolution, the parallels between wine collecting and jewellery acquisition, and why a majority of Piaget's high jewellery clients are now women buying for themselves.

The Collector's Education
Before luxury, Bourrie spent years in fine wine—terroir, vintage variation, developing a collector's palate. The parallels to high jewellery aren't subtle. Both worlds operate on similar principles: investment and appreciation, knowledge and expertise, curation and personal taste.

"When you're building a wine cellar, you're not just buying bottles—you're making investments with the expectation that value will appreciate over time as wines mature," Bourrie explains. "High jewellery functions the same way. Exceptional pieces, particularly those featuring rare gemstones, exceptional craftsmanship, or designs from renowned houses, appreciate due to scarcity, material quality, and brand prestige." The knowledge component matters as much as the acquisition itself. In wine, connoisseurs develop a deep understanding of different grape varieties, winemaking techniques, terroir, and the nuances that separate great vintages from ordinary ones. High jewellery collectors acquire similar expertise—about gemstones, precious metals, design history, and the craftsmanship involved in creating exceptional pieces. Both require education and refinement of taste.

This shapes how Bourrie approaches client conversations. He encourages them to explore their own tastes and build collections that reflect their unique identity and passions, framing both wine and jewellery as investments while helping them understand the importance of quality, rarity, and craftsmanship. The goal is positioning yourself as a knowledgeable guide while respecting that, ultimately, collecting is personal.

Going Against the Grain
The Sixties collection, Piaget's revival of their 1960s trapeze-shaped watch case, is a bold move. After nearly two decades where minimalism dominated Asian luxury markets, launching something this maximalist and unapologetic feels either perfectly timed or deliberately contrarian.

Bourrie sees it as both. "The Sixties is definitely a watch in the Zeitgeist," he says. "It's a modern reinterpretation of the maison's 1960s trapeze-shaped jewellery watches, and it embodies Piaget's philosophy that a watch is, first and foremost, a piece of jewellery intended for free-spirited individuals who embrace their unique style." The trapezoidal shape could be seen as a niche, but for Piaget, it's a bold move for a core collection—a refreshing new introduction in a market crowded with round-cased reissues. The brand's will is to further establish distinction, to address a younger generation while staying faithful to their DNA.
Maximalism isn't universally back, but there's a shift happening. After years of minimalism dominating, people are ready for something with more personality, more presence. The Sixties speak to that moment without apologizing for it.

The Self-Purchase Revolution
A huge percentage of Piaget's high jewellery clients are women buying for themselves. In an industry historically built on gifting narratives, where men purchased jewellery for the women in their lives, this represents a fundamental shift. For Piaget, though, this isn't entirely new territory. The brand has always had a rather feminine side, rooted in their jewellery expertise and ladies' watches, that gives them a distinctive style. But the shift toward self-purchase does change the design conversation.

"It's not easy to talk to women and be appealing across the board," Bourrie admits. "Most brands have either a feminine or masculine side, and shifting brand image and creations toward one gender or the other is difficult. The commercial success of our creations toward women will definitely continue to shape our future." There's another factor at play: Piaget's creative director, the same person for 25 years, is a woman. That brings a very specific touch that permeates everything the brand creates. It's not something Piaget consciously emphasizes in marketing, but it influences the design philosophy fundamentally.

Mining History Without Becoming a Museum
Piaget just celebrated 150 years. Many brands stumble after major anniversaries, unsure of what comes next, often retreating into nostalgia or safe reissues. Bourrie sees the anniversary differently as an opportunity rather than a constraint. The 150th anniversary, particularly the Essence of Extraleganza collection, was a chance to re-establish Piaget's unique style and affirm its craftsmanship. The brand continues this approach with this year's Shapes of Extraleganza collection. Both are inspired by past creations but re-interpreted in a contemporary way. "That's the key, we're not reproducing vintage pieces," Bourrie emphasizes. "We're taking the essence of what made them special and projecting it into new, daring creations." There's so much more to explore in terms of shapes, colors, gemstones, and the ways Piaget crafts gold. The idea is to assert the essence of the Maison and project it into new creations. At Piaget, creativity has never been a concern; it's fundamental to who they are.

Precision in Language, Precision in Craft
Bourrie's title—Director of High Jewellery, actually covers more than jewels alone. It's about precision, Swiss precision even, in how the brand categorizes its offerings. The department handles high-end creations globally that appeal to a specific clientele: UHNWI purchasing pieces over €100,000. This includes limited editions, Métiers d'art pieces, complications, and even the Altiplano Ultimate Concept watches. Globally, Piaget names these pieces "Exceptional Creations." It's not a hierarchy of value. It's precision in language and scope, ensuring everyone understands exactly what they're discussing. In a world where "luxury" and "exceptional" get thrown around carelessly, Piaget draws clear lines.

The India Difference
India represents something different for Piaget. After 15 years of building relationships across China, Singapore, and Hong Kong, Bourrie recognizes that India's UHNW market operates on its own terms. "India is a unique market with great potential," he notes. "First, it has its own codes and history—a market mature in jewellery with historic heritage. It's also very mature in high-end watchmaking, and there's a great place here to develop the brand on jewellery watches and high-end watches."

Piaget's story differs from historical maisons like Cartier and Van Cleef. At Piaget, high jewellery comes from watchmaking. In 1957, the Piaget family decided to realize only creations in precious materials and stones. When they opened their first salon in 1959 in Geneva, they created buzz with unique high-end watches that performed like pieces of high jewellery. Very quickly, clients requested extensions to create unique sets matching the watches. This is how the brand built its double expertise. Whether Piaget's relative youth in jewellery—compared to old Place Vendôme houses—matters in India is an open question. Bourrie thinks it's essentially neutral. What matters is quality, craftsmanship, design, and whether pieces resonate with clients' personal style. Indian collectors are sophisticated enough to look past heritage marketing and evaluate what's actually in front of them.

The possibility of India-specific designs or local collaborations is real. Under certain circumstances, Piaget can work on regional specifics—they've done Chinese Zodiac collections, for example. Historically, they had a collection 11 years ago called Mythical Journey, with inspiration from the Silk Route and four stops along it: Asia, India, Rajasthan, and Venice. For India specifically, they've worked on representations of peacocks, elephants, and floating palaces—architecture and scenery reflecting very traditional Indian inspirations. A special edition tailored to India might happen given the market's increasing importance, but it would need to feel authentic, not forced.

Building the Piaget Society
High jewellery at this level usually happens in private salons or trunk shows, exclusive events where only established clients receive invitations. Piaget is taking a different approach with the Piaget Society in India. The Piaget Society has no boundaries. It's an inclusive society—a community of people in the know, in the now, who share a common interest in the beauty and savoir-faire of Piaget's creations. As the brand progressively opens to the market, society will naturally build up. Bourrie's presence in India now is part of that foundation-building. The rest is about emotions. There's no physical need to buy high jewellery. People usually buy for pleasure, for the pleasure of gifting. The transaction is more about story than spreadsheet logic. "We often forget that rather than buying this or the other piece of jewellery, it is more about, shall I spend it on a car?" Bourrie says. "So we have to be strong enough to trigger the emotions in them to turn them towards the brand." This is why the most exclusive high jewellery creations are usually sold during events—moments where Piaget immerses clients in the brand universe, during which they try to create the most unforgettable experiences.

Where Piaget Goes Next
Independents are commanding eight-figure prices. Heritage brands are racing toward complications. Jewelers are becoming serious watchmakers. The luxury watch and jewellery landscape is crowded and competitive. For Bourrie, Piaget's path forward isn't about chasing trends or reacting to competitors. It's about staying true to the brand's DNA. Any new direction should be rooted in the core values of elegance, creativity, and technical excellence.

Balancing innovation and tradition matters, pushing boundaries in watchmaking while preserving Piaget's heritage. Understanding the competitive landscape is important, obviously. The brand continuously monitors the market and adapts strategies to stay ahead. But the foundation doesn't change: elegance, creativity, technical excellence. Everything builds from there. By focusing on these areas, Piaget can solidify its position as a leading luxury watch brand for years to come. Not by becoming something it's not, but by being more of what it already is. What strikes me most about Bourrie's approach is how little it relies on the usual luxury talking points. There's no invocation of "timeless heritage" or "celebrating moments." Instead, he talks about Piaget the way someone talks about a living brand—one that's still figuring things out, still making bets, still willing to put a trapezoidal watch case into a market that mostly wants round sports watches.

Whether India gets its own Piaget high jewellery collection remains to be seen. But the fact that the conversation is happening, and that it's informed by actual market knowledge rather than corporate assumptions, suggests Piaget is taking this market seriously. Not as a secondary consideration, but as a place where the next generation of serious collectors is being built. That might be the most significant thing about this conversation: the acknowledgment that luxury's future isn't just being written in Geneva or Paris. It's being negotiated in conversations like these, in markets like India, with clients who know exactly what they want and aren't particularly concerned with what tradition says they should want.