When it comes to ultra-thin watches, one of the most interesting things about them is that they shouldn’t exist at all, to a certain extent. Regarding their ability to function as precision measuring instruments, watches are like other timepieces, generally speaking, the more solidly they are built, the more exactly they will do their job. However thin watches do provide something a little more intangible than precision. They provide a certain kind of graceful, thus an easy-seeming, devil-may-care aura is provided essentially by the art of the ultra-thin watch while sacrificing as little as possible based on durability and reliability. Undoubtedly it’s a neat trick, as the watchmaker, the case maker as well as the maker of the dial and hands, all of them have to work closely with each other to produce an ultra-thin watch successfully. While they are attempting to strive to serve to compete and to some degree, mutually exclusive goals, which is why there isn’t any consistency between relatively few companies and associated real ultra-thin watchmaking at present.
There is a bit of an arms race in ultra-thin watchmaking in recent years, but despite the broadening, if still niche, the appeal of the genre, the truth is that there’s no single brand more historically associated with ultra-thin watchmaking. In 1957 Piaget announced its first ultra-flat movement, the caliber 9P and it has been followed in subsequent decades by many other ultra-thin calibers, including the Altiplano 900P, and the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Watch, which is only 2mm thick totally, as thin as the caliber 9P itself.
Piaget’s not taking direct aim at any world’s records at present this year, but for the SIHH 2019, the company’s launched a new meteorite-dial version of the Altiplano, which is being offered in pink gold, with pink gold dial markers. As for ultra-thin watchmaking, this is nothing groundbreaking technically certainly, but it is an interesting example of how working with different materials when making an ultra-thin replica watch, creates special challenges.
Meteorite, as a dial material, has been used on and off since the 1980s, by brands as varied as Corum and Rolex replica, but it’s probably never going to become an especially common dial material since it is pretty difficult to work with. Meteorite dials are originated from iron-nickel meteorites, which in turn were formed very early in the history of the solar system, as the molten cores of proto-planetary bodies (iron, like all heavy elements, originates in the cores of very massive stars as a result of the fusion of lighter elements, which occurs as such stars burn through hydrogen). Each of such meteorite has a different internal structure, you can see the distinctive elongated internal iron crystals when the meteorite is sectioned, which are called Widmanstätten patterns, after Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten, who described them in 1808. However, they’ve also named Thomson patterns, as it was the English scientist William Thomson who first described them in meteorites four years ago.
After treating a sample meteorite with nitric acid Thomson saw the patterns, which is the same basic procedure required for producing meteorite dials today. The dial blank is cut from a meteorite (iron-nickel meteorites and meteorite fragments of suitable size and internal structure can be found very difficultly, which is another reason they’re probably going to remain quite rare) and then acid-treated to reveal the pattern. Each dial will be a bit different, and there are obvious differences from one meteorite to another as well, which depend on the conditions under which the meteorite formed. Generally, such patterns are significant evidence of extraterrestrial origin, since they can only form when the material cools quite slowly (over a time scale of millions of years). It’s further treated to prevent the iron and nickel which compose it from oxidizing once the dial is etched.
The result is a unique pattern that presents a shifting, nearly iridescent appearance as the light changes. Since the meteorite material has an extremely diverse internal crystal structure, it’s quite difficult to work with, and the failure rate during fabrication from breakage can be rather high. Another challenge of an ultra-thin replica watch is that, surely, you need to keep the dial as thin as possible to keep the watch as thin as possible overall. The Altiplano Automatic 40mm with Meteorite Dial and only 6.5mm thick. The slim profile’s partly due to the flatness of the dial, but it’s also due to the movement – Piaget’s own micro-rotor caliber 1230P, which is 3mm x 29.90mm, and a 44-hour power reserve can be provided.
Priced at $24,600, this will be only 300 pieces of limited edition in the world, which should be appeared at replica Piaget boutiques in June. Please click here if you want more on watchmaking at Piaget.
