A FINE BALANCE

Piaget’s Altiplano Skeleton Ultra-Thin Automatic not only boasts the world’s thinnest skeletonized automatic movement, but also one of the most stunning
By Wei Koh

At the time of its completion in the 16th century, the Seville Cathedral overtook Istanbul’s legendary Hagia Sophia as the largest church in all Christendom. Framed by this monolithic tribute to divinity, Piaget’s CEO Philippe Leopold-Metzger seems pleased: I’ve just awarded him (on behalf of our global editors) REVOLUTION’s 2011 Best Complicated Watch award for Piaget’s Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic. This makes him happy because one of his relentless pursuits over the last half-decade has been in expressing the value of Piaget as a technical watch brand. So, he puts me on the spot to help define this. When asked why we selected this watch for the award, I explained that the adjective that recurred the most was “balance”.













In terms of style, the Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra-Thin achieved the perfect balance between traditional Swiss workmanship and finish, counterpointed by the throbbingly cool use of a sapphire dial, the kinetic flourish of a dial-side micro-rotor, and a baseplate featuring an absolutely ravishing skeletonized extrapolation on the decorative theme featuring a swirling vortex of minute indices radiating from the cannon pinion that originated in the brand’s equally gorgeous but more traditionalist Emperador Tourbillon Skeleton. The result is perfect and it is the most beautiful men’s complicated watch of the year.

The Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra-Thin is neither too traditional nor too modern; it has struck a fine balance between these two polarities, perfectly bridging them and in the process creating a sense of the timeless. From a pragmatic perspective in terms of size, shape, proportion and ergonomics, it is also perfectly balanced, demonstrating that a complicated watch need not be complicated to wear. Further, the monochrome nature of both the rose- and white-gold executions brings to mind a study in softly modulated hues and dramatically contrasting textures, topped off by the gorgeous skeletonized titanium tourbillon cage that weighs only 0.2 grams. It is machine sculpture, high watchmaking and kinetic art form in one. It is a watch that you can wear every day and discover something new in it each time you wear it.

Like the collectively magnificent women who work at Piaget, it strikes the perfect alliance between extraordinary looks and inner depth, capricious charm and astute intelligence — an observation that, for the moment, I keep to myself.

It strikes me as I discuss the values of Piaget’s timepieces with Mr Leopold-Metzger, that this is the salient sense of watchmaking identity Piaget expresses to me. So, what is the relevance and legitimacy of Piaget in the technical man’s watch world? The answer is that this amazing yet somehow undercommunicated brand creates some of the most beautifully balanced, innately wearable, aesthetically appealing “neoclassic with a twist” timepieces, all of which are profoundly innovative, technically proficient and undeniably beautiful.











Regarding pure horological credibility, I should point out that in each men’s watch that Piaget has introduced in the last decade, it’s substantially raised the performance and design merit of the complication in question. The caliber 600P, found in the Emperador Tourbillon, is the world’s thinnest shaped tourbillon movement. The Tourbillon Relatif merged the tourbillon’s chronometric value and its performance art potential into one. The caliber 880P chronograph, used for the Polo FortyFive watches, was one of the first in-house automatic column-wheel vertical-clutch with flyback-function-equipped movements of the modern era, which added the practical advantage of a dual-time-zone indicator. The caliber 850P is an automatic ultra-thin movement boasting dual-time-zone indications and retrograde day and date displays, and is used in the Emperador Coussin cases. Finally, my favorite Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra-Thin is also the world’s thinnest watch of its kind at 10.4mm in thickness (the caliber 1270P movement is actually only 5.55mm thick).

But it’s not just in the inner workings of the watch that Piaget’s been smart. Because it has also recognized that a complicated watch needs to be a beautiful watch, something the brand excels in creating, in particular within the parameters of its zen Altiplano round case. Says Leopold-Metzger, “The thing with our Altiplano is that it is such an icon; its design simply cannot be improved upon and its appeal is absolutely timeless.” And he’s right. If you close your eyes and conjure up the image of the perfect three-handed, round, flat watch, odds are that it’s the Altiplano that you have visualized.

However, within the lexicon of the Altiplano, one of Piaget’s core strengths has been in the creation of some of the world’s most appealing skeletonized watches, primarily using the caliber 838S. So it’s no surprise that with the success of Piaget’s 2010 Altiplano 43 Automatic, the brand is rolling out a new and rather stunning skeleton version of this watch.

But the Altiplano Skeleton Ultra-Thin Automatic simply cannot be categorized as a new iteration of last year’s watch because its sense of identity is so completely singular, thanks to what I feel is one of the most ambitious skeleton-watch projects to be embarked upon in recent memory, that it can only be examined on its own merits. For those expecting a more traditional skeleton watch, it is at first somewhat shocking. Its entire movement is completely devoid of any aesthetic distraction, save for the perfectly executed brushed pattern contrasting with magnificently beveled angles and internal corners. The result, rather than to make the prevailing mood of the watch feel barren, is instead incredibly dramatic and thrillingly contemporary.

It is in the skeletonization process of the 1200P to the 1200S that Piaget’s watch team has achieved their masterwork. While 99 percent of skeletonized movements are in some ways backward-looking, this movement is the first truly forward-looking ultra-flat skeletonized movement I’ve come across. It is incredibly minimalistic, with maximum use of negative space that calls to mind I. M. Pei’s architecture and courageously defines watchmaking’s aesthetic language of the future. And in an act that would enthrall Walter Gropius, form does indeed follow function. Says Leopold-Metzger, “The challenge was to create maximum skeletonization with the most pleasing and dramatic shapes and curves, but also while ensuring maximum rigidity.” The traditional method of skeletonizing a movement involves excising material by hand. Here, the movement’s negative space was first optimized in such as way to achieve ultimate rigidity. Says Leopold-Metzger, “It took us three years to arrive at the perfect design.”

These efforts also result in two world records: the first for the thinnest automatic skeletonized movement (2.4mm) and the second for the thinnest automatic skeletonized watch (5.34mm).

Strapping the timepiece on is a sublime experience. Rather than flipping the movement back to front then reversing the direction of the hands, as they did with the Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra-Thin, here, Piaget has opted for a traditional rearward placement of the micro-rotor as well as the balance wheel. But it is the prevalent intelligence in the design of the skeletonized bridges that allows both of these elements to contribute aesthetically to the front of the watch. Because of the transparency of the movement, both the PVD-treated platinum micro-rotor as well as the balance wheel are integral elements to the visual identity of this stunning new timepiece.

Piaget has asserted its profound legitimacy in the world of technical watchmaking without an iota of compromise in aesthetic integrity. Indeed by perfectly marrying these two elements, it has arrived at a vision for watches that is one of the most appealing in the world.


Piaget Altiplano Skeleton Ultra-Thin Automatic

Movement Caliber 1200S self-winding movement; 40-hour power reserve
Case 38mm; white gold
Strap Alligator












Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/03/2011 10:11PM by madonna.