SIHH 2018: Piaget breaks records for thin watch production

Piaget proves again that thin is definitely in. 

It presented two record-breaking timepieces that pushed the limits of thinness – the Altiplano Ultimate Concept and the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic 910P. 

“Piaget has never done records for the sake of records,” says Chabi Nouri, CEO of Piaget. “We always did it to push the boundaries of creativity.” 

The Altiplano Ultimate Concept is only 2mm thick, making it the world’s thinnest mechanical hand-wound watch. The result of four years of research and development, the watch is impressive. The 41mm timepiece is driven by a new calibre, the 900P-UC, and comes with 44 hours of power reserve. It only weighs 21.7g.

To achieve this level of thinness, Piaget had to re-engineer the way the calibre and the dial fit together inside the case, resulting in the filing of five patents.  The regulating organ at 9 o’clock was redesigned: the balance wheel bridge is gone. Instead, the balance-staff, inner ring of the ball-bearing mechanism and the roller become fused into one piece.

A new barrel was designed and placed at 6 o’clock. It has no cover and no drum, and the ball-bearing-mounted mainspring is attached onto the frame instead. At 3 o’clock, a new control device is seen, which uses a control stem and a selection lever to selectively control a corresponding function. The crown is made into a flat “telescopic” crown that is recessed into the case. The fifth patent is for the method it took to fit the 0.22mm thin crystal onto a bezel integrated with the case. 

It’s other world-record-setting timepiece is the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic, the world’s thinnest mechanical automatic watch at only 4.3mm thick.