For 2014 Piaget will
once again hold and retain the title of "world's thinnest watch" with
the Altiplano 38mm 900P. For years now Piaget has been releasing mechanical
watch after mechanical watch exclusively dedicated to the notion of being the
thinnest possible of that type. This practice began long ago with lots of
success. In 1957 they released the 2mm thick 9P movement and in 1960 they
released the famed 12p automatic movement. Sometimes Piaget gets de-throned in
a particular "ultra-thin" category by another brand who is able to
cut out another fraction of a millimeter from the thickness of a case of
movement. This year they take the title of absolute world's thinnest mechanical
watch back with this actually very ultra-thin creation that is just 3.65mm
thick, and whose movement is merged to the case.
Over the lat few years who
has been the most interested in "ultra-thin?" Pretty much everyone.
The notion of a very thin mechanical watch has been a haute horology trend as
of late. What really amused us is when for marketing purposes a lot of brands
simply starting adding "ultra thin" to watches that frankly weren't
any different than the year before. It seems as though someone decided that
10mm or under was "ultra-thin." Well you could stack close to three
Piaget Altiplano 38mm 900P watches next to a 10mm which watch. The moral of the
story is that not all "ultra thin" is created equal. So it is
important to note who the major players are.
While there are some
others, the real masters of "ultra-thin" are brands like Piaget,
Audemars Piguet, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre and perhaps Arnold &
Son (who released the world's thinnest tourbillon watches with the UTTE (reviewed here) - though we will see what
they continue to do in that department in the future. Ultra-thin movements are
very interesting, but at some point how thin is thin enough? And beyond some
threshold point does more thinness matter for wearability? I'd say that
anything 5mm or less is going to wear pretty much the same, being of a similar
practical height on your wrist. When you start to shave off fractional amounts
of size you are simply getting into the realm of bragging rights. But that is
OK. Toys for grown men are frequently about being able to brag to your friends.
I think it is important to
discuss what ultra-thin is all about and what goes in to it. It is actually
more difficult to accomplish than people understand. When aBlogtoWatch
visited Piaget in 2011 we got a first hand look at how they design and
manufacture their thinnest movements. It is true that the caliber 900P did not
exist yet, but as mentioned above, Piaget has been producing very thin
movements for decades. It is actually much more difficult as well to assemble a
thin movement than a normal one. It isn't just matter of cleverly reducing
space, but it is about properly machining all the parts. Machines that don't
have too many parts touching can have high tolerances. When you have all the
necessary gears crammed into a roughly 2mm thick area, everything is extremely
close to touching one another and much lower tolerances as possible.
The 900P for example has
gears and element so incredibly thin I am surprised they can be assembled
without breaking the parts. This is also the first time Piaget has released a
movement that is not only integrated into the dial, but is also integrated into
the case. That is really what makes the 900P so unique. It isn't just a thin
movement placed into a thin case like most other Piaget Altiplano watches, but
rather a new form of unified entity. How does that work? Well clearly there is
no distinct dial as it is integrated into the movement. The mainspring barrel
isn't connected to the mainplate either, but exists off to the side, further
reducing space. Some of the gears are almost half the thickness they would
normally be, and the entire movement (along with case) is still comprised of
145 parts. Manually wound (of course), the power reserve is about 48 hours.
On the dial of the
Altiplano 38mm 900P you have just the time with hours and minutes, along with a
view of some of the movement including the balance wheel as well as much of the
gear train and also the mainspring barrel with winding system. In black and
steel-tone colors mixed with the red color of the synthetic rubies, it makes
for an elegant view that cannot escape being designed to appeal to watch
lovers. It is also worth noting that if you unscrew the caseback, the entire
movement pops out. That is because the caseback is actually the rear plate of
the movement. All of this was done for the case of size mitigation. Piaget
really wanted to ensure no one would come out with anything thinner, anytime
soon. I have a feeling that no one will. In fact, if you've noticed the lack of
distinct values for the thickness of the case and movement, they aren't offered
by Piaget. As it is unclear where the case ends and the movement begin (given
the design), they can only offer the 3.65mm thickness value of the entire piece
as a whole.
