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KIH's report from a Piaget press event in Japan offers a rare, early look at the Emperador Coussin Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater and new Altiplano models. This article is significant for capturing initial impressions of Piaget's groundbreaking ultra-thin minute repeater movement and case, which were world-firsts at the time. KIH provides valuable insights into the design philosophy and technical achievements that define these important Piaget references.
Piaget held a press presentation for the new
Altiplano Ultra-Thin models and the first Minute Repeater which has the
thinnest movement and case. They brought TWO working samples
of the new minute repeater and we could handle and hear the sound -
please look forward the video (apologies for the surrounding chattering
noise) as you read on.
1.
New Altiplano models:
They brought in
three models:
Altiplano Skeleton
Ultra-Thin
1200S Movement
38mm case size is quite nice, and if I
may add, this PG version is also very, very nice in terms of color
coordination.
Altiplano Automatic
Date & Altiplano Automatic (last year's novelty)
Automatic Date: 40mm case
size. As FrX reported: good proportion. The date at
9h is distinctive and well balanced with the 4h small second sub
dial.
New 1205P
Altiplano: 43mm case size - looks a bit
too big for my wrist, helped by the thin bezel.
1208P movement.
On my wrist (6.45"), the lug tips hang
well over the wrist.
2. Presentation -
Minute Repeater development
Mr.
Franck Touzeau, Watch Marketing Director who flew from the Head Office,
led the presentation.
Piaget's definition of "Five Milestones
of watchmaking" - (from left to right) Tourbillon, Chronograph,
Perpetual Calendar, Minute Repeater, and Grande Sonnerie, and with the
new Minute Repeater, they have now achieved four out of
five.
The case is just 9.4mm thick - the
world's thinnest automatic minute repeater
The movement is
4.8mm height - also the world's thinnest automatic minute
repeater
Now, presentation by Mr. Vasco
Belo, who is from the the Movement Division.
Case size is 48mm - maybe a bit too big,
but with this technology packed inside, it is understandable and may be
acceptable. Of course, my small wrist wish it were tad
smaller. The extra space in the round case with
rectangular-ish movement may work as "the room between the sound board
and lid" of the piano to amplify and give
reverberation.
How minute repeater works:
Four
key mechanism of the minute repeater watch: Showing the time,
Recognizing the time, Control the repeater function, and bang with the
hammer.
These three cams work to "read" and
"recognize" the time (hour, quarter, and minute) for banging the hammer
to let you know the time which must be exactly the same as the time
shown by the hands on the dial.
Now, the sound loudness and
quality:
Sound loudness: While people's ears can hear
or tolerate (theoretically) from 0 to 140db. The loudness is
set at 64db which is slightly below the conversation loudness
level. Comfortable level in terms of the
loudness.
The sound frequency..... They
did numerous experiments and determined the sound frequency as well as
the sound attenuation time length....
Another impressive point about this
minute repeater - water resistant.
This model give sounds at
pretty comfortable level of loudness with water resistant case -
how?
They don't use crystal on the back. They use the
case side as the "speaker" of the sound, meaning, the gong is directly
attached to the case side (center piece of the case), which is made
extremely thin.
As they researched the sound quality, they concluded that the "sound board" should be as light as possible. So, while the case top and bottom are completely sealed, the sound actually comes out of the case side which works as the speaker drive unit in audio speakers.
Also, they made one more design for water
resistance - the space near the lever (where it would be most likely the
water may come in from) for the water to be stored/ stopped from
entering further in.
As always, Piaget hand finished
parts...
... and case and the seal "Always Do
Better Than Necessary".
Front and back of the movement, from the
upper left to the lower right: Hand made parts, The gears finished with
"crease", Base plate with guilloche, Screws with black-polished heads,
Pink gold screw, Hand polished hammer, Pink platinum micro rotor,
Special regulator, Round pattern cote-de-geneve
finish.
"Pink platinum"
half-rotor.
This is Piaget's 35th movement in the
current production line-up.
Now the live pics of the
watch.
Says "A XX/15" - means, they can make
only 15 pieces of this a year.
Made in 2013 will be "A XX" and
it will be "B XX" in 2014 production watches. So, NOT LE, but
has the number out of 15, for every year.
A bit big, but thanks to rectangular-ish
shape of the glass, it seems okay. Well, with such a spec, how
can I complain?
Gong directly attached to the case
side.
"Always do better than
necessary"
La Cote-Aux-Fees (in
Neuchatel)
And finally the live
video of the actual watch!
Also,
a very cool video Piaget created for this
watch...
Mr. Nicolas Jaccard, Brand CEO of Piaget
Japan.
Mr. Franck Touzeau,
Watch Marketing Director from Switzerland.
And Mr. Vasco Belo, a
young Movement specialist of the Head Office
Hope you enjoyed this article. I had a great time handling
the minute repeater and discuss with those two gentlemen from
Switzerland.
Special thanks:
Mr. Franck
Touzeau, Piaget Watch Marketing Director
Mr. Vasco Belo, Piaget
Watch Movement Division
Mr. Nicolas Jaccard, Brand CEO, Piaget
Japan
Ms. Fumiko Imai, Communication Senior Manager, Piaget
Japan
Mr. Daniel Pellet, Marketing Manager, Piaget
Japan
Thank
you!
Best,
Ken
Ken Thanks for the report from Japan. Piaget is the master of ultra-thin but for the thinner wrists, the 43mm diameter regular Altiplano Automatic may be on the large side. They surprised us all these last two years by launching smaller Altiplano: 40mm and 38mm, thus reversing the previous trend for larger watches. This was with the same sized movements as in the big 43mm watches. You and other Japanese connoisseurs may find something there....... Piaget Altiplano mechanical movement watches com
A lot much better than other ones I've heard. I love the tone, speed, and resonance from how it sounds in the video. Thanks for the report Ken! Cheers, Anthony
Thank you for sharing marvelous pieces with us I only wonder why Mr. Franck Touzeau, Watch Marketing Director from Switzerland had slap on face :) Pieces where that good? :) Best Damjan
.. yes, the Minute Repeater is THAT good :-) Ken
read and listen to the art of Piaget. The size issue for me is not an issue with a 7.5" wrist, can't wait to see and hear these new beauties in the metal. Thanks again, Tim
I have to say, it sounds great! Agreed, 48MM is too big. Perhaps the biggest fault of this watch is its abnormally large size. Really enjoyed the video you made and the slide show presentation. I also noticed the movement is shaped, not a normal round movement. Which is quite interesting. Thanks for sharing Ken!
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