When considering the thinnest mechanical watches in the world, they don’t come much finer than Piaget’s. The esteemed watchmaker has long been at the cutting-edge of this technically challenging quest, dating back to 1957 when it launched the Calibre 9P, a hand-wound movement that was an astounding 2mm thick. Since then, it has continued to innovate in this realm, culminating in the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept, the thinnest mechanical watch currently available on the market.

First revealed at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in 2018, the watch, which is 2mm thick including case, has now been advanced into a tried-and-tested watch available for purchase. This painstaking process took four years of development in the prototype stage, with a further two years to refine its engineering and design into the final wearable piece. To put its record-breaking thickness into context, it is equivalent to the height of a one Euro coin, or two credit cards stacked together.

This remarkable feat has been achieved by completely rethinking the traditional way that a watch is put together. Typically the movement would sit within the case and case back, whereas here, Piaget has created a case into which the movement baseplate is directly machined. The case was too thin to use gold, and instead has been crafted from a new cobalt-based alloy that is 2.3 times stronger.

Almost all elements of the movement have had to be carefully reengineered and resized, from the wheels to the sapphire crystal glass, which has been pared-down by 80 per cent when compared to a standard watch. Meanwhile, the mainspring barrel has been redesigned to offer a power reserve of 40 hours, an impressive number for a watch this thin. Even the way of indicating the time has had to be completely rethought; instead of having a dial and two hands placed on top of a bridge, the watch features a dial that lies beneath it.

Despite the delicate nature of all the 167 individual parts – some of which are produced to microscopically small dimensions – the Altiplano Ultimate Concept is intricately finished to the highest standard. A testament to the handcrafted nature of Piaget’s timepieces, the watch can also be requested with a number of bespoke finishes and features, from the colour of the bridge and dial to the finish of the hands.

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