When big and bulky is still all the rage, why go against the tide? The answer is three-fold. Firstly, this isn’t something new for Piaget. The brand has been successfully manufacturing and selling ultra-flat timepieces for 50 years. This incredibly slim collection is called the Altiplano and has become a signature for the brand with its ultra-thin timepieces for both ladies and gentlemen in round and square shaped cases. In addition to a number of special pieces like the Altiplano Double-Jeu line, with its two superimposed watch cases, the Atliplano skeleton and the Altiplano tourbillon that contain the slimmest of movements at 2.7mm and 3.5mm respectively.
Secondly, 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of Piaget’s first super-thin automatic calibre, the 12P, that was commercialised in 1960. To celebrate this occasion the brand wanted to take this movement to new limits of precision. Each component of the new 1208P calibre has been reworked to improve its efficiency and its finishing. The micro-rotor at 9 o’clock is now in gold which improves the inertia and the wheel train has been reduced from 0.2mm to 0.12mm which is just slightly thicker than a human hair (0.08mm)! Other refined details include angled bridges, blued screws and CÔtes de GenÈve motifs - all at an astounding, world record height of 2.35mm.





Thirdly, this movement is being used to drive a new automatic timepiece, the Piaget Altiplano 43mm, the world’s most slender automatic timepiece on the market today. When Piaget’s CEO Philippe Leopold-Metzger pulls back the cuff of his shirt to show this new creation, it glides out without a hitch. “It is a big watch at 43mm, but a gentleman can’t find anything as thin and as elegant as this,” he says proudly. With its minimalist dial, subtle double indexes at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, seconds in a sub dial at 4 o’clock and the addition of the word ‘Automatic’ under the logo, it is kind of hard to disagree with him.


Source: Europa Star December-January 2010 Magazine Issue