Piaget just introduced the Piaget Altiplano 38mm 900P which is the thinnest mechanical watch in the world today. Piaget is the king of ultra-thin watches, holding more than a dozen records in various categories. This expertise goes all the way back to 1957 with the invention of the Calibre 9P, the first Piaget ultra-thin movement and what today is a real classic. To celebrate the mark’s 140th anniversary, the Piaget has gone for the biggest record of all and released the Altiplano 900P, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. It has taken some serious technological breakthroughs to get to a staggering 3.65mm thin and the result is a surprisingly wearable watch. Here we have an exclusive first look at this amazing watch, complete with live photos and pricing.
While Piaget holds many of the ultra-thin records, the overall thinnest mechanical watch title was previously held by Jaeger-LeCoultre for the Master Ultra-Thin Jubilee, which comes in at 4.05mm. But now, thinner by a full .4mm, the Altiplano 900P has climbed on top. Normally here we’d start talking about the thin movement and how it fits into the case, but we can’t here. The case and the movement are one unit with the Altiplano 900P.
Piaget SA is a Swiss luxury watchmakers and jewellers, founded in 1874 by Georges Piaget in the village of La Côte-aux-Fées. The company belongs to the Swiss Richemont group, specialists in the luxury goods industry. The company was founded as a manufacturer of watch movements but began marketing its own line of watches in the 20th century.
All the bridges and wheels are beautifully finished, as you would expect from Piaget. Brushing, chamfering, and polishing create a lot of visual interest in a way that manages to avoid looking flashy or over-the-top. It would have been easy for Piaget to go with a 40mm or 43mm case here, but they opted for the more difficult and elegant 38mm case here.
The Ultra-Thin Altiplano 900P will be available in 18k white gold and will be priced between $20,000 and $30,000. While this is certainly a sizeable sum, it’s extremely reasonable for this watch. The power reserve is about 48 hours and the watch comes on a black alligator strap with a matching white gold pin buckle. Visit Piaget for more details.
One of the greatest challenges here was ensuring that the crystal could sit as low as possible without pressing on the hands when subjected to pressure. A new patent-pending mechanism was invented to fit the hands below the main bridges (when they would normally be fit above) so that the crystal will push on the bridges instead of the hands. For now, no more details on this are being released, as you might expect, but it’s one of those small things that could represent a big change in ultra-thin movements long-term.
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