HOT SKINNY
Piaget, the undisputed king of slim, returns this year with a new record holder and its very first concept watch
A YEAR AFTER celebrating the 60th anniversary of its super-slim Altiplano collection, Piaget has started 2018 with two bold unveils at SIHH: the Altiplano Ultimate Automatic and the Altiplano Ultimate Concept. The former, otherwise referred to as the 910P, measures a mere 4.3mm and currently holds the record for the thinnest automatic wristwatch. The latter, an even slimmer concept piece that’s not for sale at the moment, is the product of five patents and five years’ development.
Super-slim movements have been a Piaget forte since 1957, when it revealed the calibre
9P, the thinnest movement ever made. In
2013, it revealed the hand-wound 900P, an ingenious construction that utilised the case as a movement plate, which resulted in a watch measuring just 3.65mm thick.
This year, Piaget follows a similar approach by introducing the 910P, whose movement and case are regarded as a single entity. It also reveals the bridges and the drive train on the dial side. Providing 50 hours of energy is a 22k-gold peripheral winding rotor that’s incorporated within the thickness of the movement.
Setting yet another benchmark is the Altiplano Ultimate Concept, which at 2mm is the world’s thinnest mechanical watch and took five years to develop. Five patented developments help to ensure a fully operational watch that delivers 40 hours of power reserve and is waterresistant to 3 bar.
A cobalt-alloy case keeps the shape rigid and less susceptible to warps and deformities, while the 0.2mm sapphire crystal is roughly a fifth of the size of a regular crystal. Other features contributing to the watch’s impossibly slim profile include an integrated flat crown that protects the winding system and uses a worm screw instead of the usual winding pinion; a ballbearing mainspring barrel devoid of cover and drum, machined directly on the case back; and a regulating system with no balance-wheel bridge.