The thin and the bling: The Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept and Piaget Limelight
This year, Piaget has focused on the two strengths that most clearly define the Maison: on one hand, ultra-thin men’s watches (taken to their most technically demanding extreme) and on the other, boldly designed and extravagantly gem-set women’s watches. Altiplano Ultimate Concept Nobody could reasonably dispute that this insanely thin new watch is quite mind-blowing. But to properly understand it, a bit of context is needed. Its genesis dates back to 2014, when Piaget introduced the Altiplano 900P. At an unfeasibly skinny 3.65mm, it was the thinnest hand-wound watch ever made and it redefined our assumptions about the limits of ultra-thin watchmaking. The stroke of genius had been to reject the traditional binary notion of case plus movement, and instead to use the caseback as the baseplate. However, Piaget was already a serial record-breaker in ultra-thin watchmaking. In 1960, three years after launching the hand-wound Calibre 9P (at 2mm, it was one of the world’s slimmest movements), the 2.3mm thick Calibre 12P set a new record as the thinnest self-winding movement. Since the millennium, other records have followed: thinnest tourbillon, thinnest minute repeater, thinnest skeletonised movements – and more. Then, at SIHH 2018, Piaget introduced us to the Altiplano Ultimate…
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From Humphrey Bogart’s wide-brimmed fedora in Casablanca to Indiana Jones’ whip in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the right prop has defined many big-screen characters. Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy of Batman films contains an object deserving similar recognition. Except you don’t notice it. The reason why is that it’s so exquisitely tuned to its owner’s personality that it’s barely perceptible as a standalone item. What I’m getting at, of course, is Bruce Wayne’s Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. After Joel Schumacher’s disastrous attempts at the superhero franchise (the director even publicly apologised for Batman & Robin), Nolan’s films were very different. Batman Begins was a grittily realistic take on the caped crusader that pointedly avoided camp flourishes. It delved into the Batman origin story and didn’t flinch from exploring the psychological angst simmering beneath. What about the watches? Well, in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne wears a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Grand Taille, while in The Dark Knight Rises he wears a JLC Reverso Grand Date. Here’s why they’re such inspired choices for the man behind the mask. A Logical Choice On the basic screen-test of horological plausibility, the Reverso ticks all the right boxes. Understated but refined, this…
Irish-born mixed martial artist and boxer Conor McGregor is known for his time spent in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he was the featherweight and lightweight champion. He also fought boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr, which drew 4.3 million pay per viewers, the second most in history. During these uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is practising social distancing and isolation, which means no events, and unfortunately for me, no photographs of attendees. But McGregor provided us with a new watch unboxing today. We know McGregor is a watch guy, having in the past worn numerous pieces from Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe and Rolex, in various guises from blinged-out models to more restrained pieces in precious metals. McGregor on his Instragram account this morning showed his newest acquisition from Patek Philippe. He unboxed a new Patek Philippe Ref 5905 Annual Calendar Chronograph in platinum and matching cufflinks. His new watch has an Irish twist. He explains in his post that the watch is a limited edition of 25 pieces made for Irish jeweller Weir & Sons and that he got number 12. Weir & Sons was established in 1869 and last year celebrated their 150th Anniversary. They are an…
In the end, watch fairs can sometimes be remembered for the sleeper hits. Sure, ‘fairs’ aren’t currently really a thing, but the global chaos didn’t stop Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) from rallying and creating a fully digital version of Watches & Wonders. Which we promptly translated into a TV show, because we wanted to give you the option to watch fair and chill, if trawling a website sounded too much like work. The best thing about this, was when the FHH then linked to our show from their fully digital version. The circle was complete. We digress. The bottom line was that a plethora of brand shiny new releases, even in digital form, was like finding H20 in the middle of the Mojave. And while many were fawning over JLC and IWC’s new releases (that Portugieser 42 QP … oof), there was one watch unveiled that instantly spoke to us as the under-the-radar star of the show. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the Baume & Mercier Clifton Baumatic Day-Date and Moon-Phase Automatic in steel – the sleeper hit of W&W 2020. Baume & Mercier’s standard three-hander Clifton Baumatic is already a deeply admirable watch, especially for…
