Just 2mm: The world’s thinnest mechanical watch that can actually be used
When Piaget first unveiled the Altiplano Ultimate Concept in 2018, the watch customs was wowed and competitors suitably intimidated – merely only for a while. The 2mm thick sentinel, which immediately claimed the world tape for the thinnest mechanical picket e'er, was later all just a concept. Collectors quickly went dorsum to lusting later slim tickers they could actually vesture, and Piaget'south competitors in ultra-thin watchmaking like Bulgari and Vacheron Constantin were more than happy to make them.
But the Altiplano Ultimate Concept isn't just a concept anymore. Despite its unchanged name, the watch is now finally in regular (but surely limited) product following an announcement at the recent Watches & Wonders online fair.
Its alarming thinness is certainly the main highlight, but just as impressive as its profile (or almost lack of one) is the amount of time and imagination that went into it. Information technology took 2 years to engineer the watch, but four years before that just to figure out how.
One of the solutions was borrowed from an older Piaget model, the 900P, launched at the end of 2013. Thanks to the ingenious thought of integrating the motion directly into the instance, the 900P was, for a time, the thinnest mechanical watch in the world.
Other strategies included eliminating the demand for bridges by using wheels rotating on ball bearings, replacing the hr mitt with a revolving indicator disc and completely reengineering the crown to be telescopic and affluent with the example.
The unabridged thing, comprising 167 parts, was so delicate that no ane was allowed to handle the concept watch when it was launched at SIHH two years agone. For it to reasonably handle the rigours of daily habiliment was inconceivable.
Just in those two years, Piaget worked hard to make it happen. A loftier-tech cobalt blend was chosen for the example material as it is said to be 2.three times stronger than aureate. Fifty-fifty the strap needed to be made from a combination of leather and Kevlar and shaved downward to the case's dimensions. It's not as convenient as its boyfriend record-breaker, the Altiplano Ultimate Automated 910P (3.65mm) from 2018, but it does have a respectable power reserve of 40 hours.
And while it may not accept the satisfying heft of a solid gold or platinum watch (or the weight of anything at all, really), just knowing that a 0.2mm thick piece of sapphire crystal, which is 80 per cent thinner than the norm, and 0.12mm of cobalt are all that's protecting the movement from the elements and your own skin is a unique kind of privilege.
Now that Piaget intends for people to wear information technology, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept will too offer a customisation service. Customers volition be able to choose the colours for the sub-dial, motility plate and strap, and even the finish of the hands. According to the brand, in that location are over 10,000 possible permutations, ensuring that an already rare timepiece will be practically one-of-a-kind.
Granted, a watch this slight isn't for anybody, nor can it be just from a production standpoint. Simply it could inspire more than comfortable watches overall. Those mesomorphic diving watches, chronographs and – dare we imagine information technology – grand complications could finally fit under all manner of cuffs, have less of a chance of knocking into things, and not feel like you've strapped a small boulder onto your wrist.
Your movement, Bulgari.
READ> The best ultra-thin timepieces that fit ever then discreetly under your shirt cuff
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/obsessions/world-s-thinnest-mechanical-watch-251186
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