Departures of note

Camille Pilet spent over four decades building Piaget into a global watch brand, but his final years were consumed by a very different mission. After a heart attack in 1981, he met the homeopath Luc Jouret, became his devoted follower, and eventually joined the Order of the Solar Temple, a group often described as a cult. Pilet, who had amassed a fortune through real estate and watch sales, became the order's primary financial benefactor, donating millions of Swiss francs and rising quickly to a high rank. He was seen by the group as the reincarnation of Joseph of Arimathea and claimed to channel messages from other dimensions, messages that helped prepare members for what they called a 'transit'—a mass suicide.

Born in 1926 in the small Swiss village of La Côte-aux-Fées, Pilet never earned a degree but taught himself six languages and began working as a traveling salesman in 1945. That same year he was hired by Piaget, headquartered in his hometown, and moved to Geneva as the company's world sales director. He helped build a worldwide distribution network, assisted in the 1964 acquisition of Baume et Mercier, and was known as a workaholic who regularly traveled the globe with valuable watch collections. His work outside the watch business, mostly real estate, brought him a net worth of about 40 million Swiss francs. He legally lived in Panama and later Monte Carlo to avoid Swiss taxes, and maintained a private art collection featuring works by Picasso, Dalí, and Warhol.

Pilet joined the Solar Temple in 1987, after years as a Rosicrucian and a brief period hosting followers of a guru. He donated over four million francs to the order, which likely kept it from bankruptcy, and in 1989 was initiated with the black cape, a sign of high rank. He and the group's leader, Joseph Di Mambro, both claimed to channel an entity called the 'Heavenly Lady.' In 1990, Pilet retired from Piaget and told his mistress of over 25 years that he could no longer have a sexual relationship, as he was now with Jouret. Jouret, ashamed of their relationship, publicly mistreated Pilet, though few in the group knew of it. Pilet also helped the order buy properties, including a chalet in Salvan, Switzerland, and land in Australia for 'survival centers.'

In October 1994, 23 members of the Solar Temple died in Cheiry, Switzerland, as part of a mass murder-suicide orchestrated by the order. Pilet and another member, Renée Pfaehler, died from suffocation with plastic bags, while most others were shot. Swiss police later said it was likely that Pilet conducted the ceremony that night, and he was probably among the voluntary participants, not the murdered 'Traitors.' However, he was legally declared a victim, so the cantons could not claim his assets. His body was identified on October 11, and he was buried in La Côte-aux-Fées on October 15, with about 300 people attending, including Piaget employees. Friends, who had not known of his involvement, expressed bafflement, saying they would have 'never expected' him to be in a cult.