He initially struggled, but jumped onto an opportunity to establish a Piaget distributorship in New York City with two other refugees, starting their business as the Piaget Watch Company in 1961 with the contents of a single suitcase.
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After reading Vance Packard's 1959 book, The Status Seekers, and its message of how Americans were increasingly looking to project their status, Grinberg realized that he could convince Americans that wearing a quality watch was as much of a status symbol as owning a Cadillac in one's driveway.