[2] Piguet was born in Yverdon-les-Bains in Switzerland,[3] in 1898, according to the Swiss Fashion Museum, the Musée suisse de la Mode, which holds his archives,[4] although many other sources give an alternative birth year of 1901.

[12] In addition to Dior, Bohan and Balmain, other designers who had an early start with Piguet included James Galanos and Hubert de Givenchy.

[15][16] He also collaborated with the Italian fashion illustrator René Gruau, whose artwork depicted many of Piguet's designs and was featured in promotional materials of the time.

[19][20] Piguet's archive, consisting of 3,000 original designs, photographs and documents, is held by the Musée suisse de la Mode, in his birthplace, Yverdon-les-Bains.

[4] In collaboration with Germaine Cellier, Robert Piguet launched his first perfume Bandit (created 1942) in the USA in 1944,[21] with a dramatic presentation featuring models with guns and knives, one of whom is said to have smashed a bottle of the fragrance on the floor.