After shocking the world (and spawning a race for thinness) in 2018 with its Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie-winning Altiplano Ultimate Concept, Piaget has become synonymous with ultra-thin movements. For Watches & Wonders 2024, the Swiss maison is back at it again and it pulling out all the stops. The brand has unveiled the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, a revised take on the slimline timepiece that Piaget tells me is the “thinnest watch in the world to feature a flying tourbillon movement”. How thin? Try 2mm on for size.
The ingenious new model reportedly took over six years to produce, with the Piaget team working extensively to find solutions for the high-end complication. With an additional power source needed to fuel the tourbillon and very little space to squeeze it into, the watchmakers faced an unenviable task, but modern problems require modern solutions.
“The momentum behind the design of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon was the same kind of energy that led to the creation of the thinnest manual winding calibre at that time, the 9P and 12P calibres, the Altiplano Ultimate (900P or 910P), and finally the Altiplano Ultimate Concept,” Piaget said. “The new idea still needed to be put into action. The question of how to achieve it had no simple answer.”
Tireless hours went into the design process and eventually, Piaget realised that it could cut weight by taking the seamless connection between the movement and case to new extremes. For the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon, Piaget redesigned the timepiece from the ground up, repurposing the case back as the movement mainplate. From there, the crown was integrated into the case band, meaning it can only be pulled out and operated using a dedicated tool, ensuring that no space was wasted.
According to Piaget, more than 90 per cent of the components of the original Altiplano Ultimate Concept were redesigned, with the maison even going so far as to develop new machinery to craft the watch.
“We did far more than merely add a tourbillon. We reinvented everything,” Benjamin Comar, Piaget CEO explained.
The result is an intricately designed and flawlessly manufactured timepiece that bears the hallmarks of innovation. Like the original 9P calibre that set the wheels in motion more the 65 years ago, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon charts a new course for ultra-thin watches. At 41.5mm in diameter, the deep blue treated cobalt alloy model is bold and brash enough to make a statement front on, but from the side, it’s almost transparent.
Sitting smack bang at 10 o’clock on the 2mm thick novelty is the stunning tourbillon complication, complete with a seconds indicator engraved on the tourbillon ring. I was delighted to see that despite the changes, Piaget had opted to maintain the dial layout, with the hours and minutes positioned slightly off-centre, in keeping with previous models.
The tourbillon itself, however, is a true feat of ingenuity. Set in a circular motion by a bridge encircling it, the carriage of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon is held in place by a ceramic ball bearing, which “drives its one-minute rotation”. That decision would prove instrumental.
By utilising ball bearings instead of pivots, Piaget made it easier for the mobile elements to rotate, decreasing friction and allowing the watchmakers to achieve an even thinner result. Furthermore, the choice to use a made-to-measure mainspring, reworked based on its most force-bearing factor was crucial in delivering an ultra-thin complication that boasts an impressive 40-hour power reserve.
“When a watch is 2 mm thin, all the rules change. This fact will barely be noticed by its wearer, but it is vitally important to watchmakers,” Piaget said. “The machining tolerance of miniaturised parts is a true challenge. With the balance wheel rim and the sapphire crystal both being 0.2 mm thick, the machines that craft them have to work to an accuracy of around 2 microns, that is two-thousandths of a millimetre.”
For now, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon stands as a monument to what is possible in the world of watchmaking. There is no doubt that Richard Mille and Bulgari will come for the tourbillon title, but for now, Piaget deserves all the acclaim it is receiving. In a sense, it’s difficult to even encapsulate the achievement in words, so perhaps it’s better left to the brand themselves. In describing the new novelty, Piaget explained “The Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon could be described as the sum of these technical feats. But the true feat remains the same as the Altiplano Ultimate Concept’s: it is the effect that it creates.”
Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon
- Brand: Piaget
- Model: Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon
- Reference Number:
- Diameter: 41.5mm
- Thickness: 2mm
- Water Resistance: 30m
- Calibre: 970P-UC, one-minute peripheral tourbillon
- Power Reserve: 60 hours
