To follow with the video we just published, it is now time for us to go into all the details about what certainly is THE main technical achievement of the beginning of the year. Piaget smashes all previous records and unveils the ultra-lean 2mm Altiplano Ultimate Concept. What you see in front of you simply is the thinnest mechanical watch ever created… And by far. Ultra-thin redefined!
Now we see quite a few spectacular timepieces every year, sometimes when they’re about to be launched and sometimes when there’s still a lot of work before it’s ready to be launched. But what we got to see at Piaget the other day, was simply unheard of, and properly mind-boggling. Piaget has created a watch with a thickness of just 2.00 millimetre. And I’m not talking about the movement, the entire watch is 2mm thick. That’s thinner than the leather strap on your watch, thinner than a Swiss five Franc coin.
It’s true… The SIHH 2018 hasn’t started yet. However, as every year, the game of the “pre-SIHH” watches (novelties introduced as teasers for what is to come during the fair) brought its dosage of new watches. In order to prepare yourself for what’s coming in a week, here is a short recap of the main novelties already introduced as part of the SIHH 2018 collections.
Piaget and ultra-thin are two words that go together very well. For over 60 years now, the brand has developed a true expertise in ultra-thin watches and movements (don’t forget that Piaget started its life as a movement manufacturer and not as a jeweller). From the Calibre 9P to the recent 900P, the brand has gone from one world-record to another. Last year, a certain Italian-rooted brand unveiled what was the thinnest automatic movement in current production… Today Piaget comes with their answer. They took one the thinnest hand-wound watches in the world, the Altiplano 900P, and added a peripheral rotor making it an automatic. And not just an automatic but the world’s thinnest automatic wristwatch.
At the SIHH 2017, Piaget celebrated the 60th anniversary of its most emblematic collection, a watch that fully symbolises the brand and immediately makes it recognizable: the Altiplano. Born in 1957, the ultra-thin watch with so many thinness records is now a true icon. Following the celebrations, Piaget puts an unexpected twist on the collection, by presenting the Altiplano 60th Anniversary Pocket Watch… And what an elegant, slightly “out of the box” proposition.
When the Piaget Polo S Chronograph (and time-and-date too) was unveiled last year in New York, the response was divisive to say the least. Many thought it paid too close a homage to certain other iconic steel sports watches, whilst others welcomed this bold move by Piaget to offer some more accessible models. Now, more than a year on, the dust has settled a bit and (presumably) emotions aren’t running quite so high, which makes it the perfect time for a hands-on review of the Piaget Polo S Chronograph in steel.
Today we’re going to review a watch that actually perfectly embodies a “dress watch”. In fact, I would call this the perfect dress watch. In terms of size, design, technical feats, everything, this watch IS a dress watch as dress watches are described. It’s not too big, it’s super thin, it’s very elegant, it tells time by means of an hour and minute hand (not even a second hand) and it’s understated. We’re looking at a watch that is known for its ultra-slim profile, and today there are hand-wound versions, automatic versions, with or without date, with our without small seconds. And we’re looking at the most understated of them all, in white gold, 38mm in diameter, hand-wound, and no second hand… here’s the Piaget Altiplan
For Piaget, ultra-thin timepieces have been a reality since 1957. Now the brand celebrates the 60th anniversary of its first ultra-thin watch and its Altiplano collection with a masterful display of colours, sizes, artistic crafts and even a new tourbillon movement
For now 60 years, the Piaget Altiplano has been one of the best (if not the most remarkable) definitions of what a slim, elegant and sleek dress watch should be. It has it all: the pedigree, the mechanical content, the design… Yet, in the recent days, the Altiplano might have lost a bit of boldness to become a clean and modern watch, yet with the usual attributes of the collection. For the SIHH 2017 and to mark the 60th anniversary of the model, Piaget brings back some eccentricity to the Altiplano and historically relevant features, with the new colorful 40mm Piaget Altiplano Automatic.