Piaget

dxboon
[Elite User]
12450

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Our friends at Piaget have provided some great insight ...

...into their past, present and future in response to your post.  You had asked (and hopefully I interpreted your questions appropriately):

1) Was there ever a time when the 12P (2.3mm) held the record for thinnest automatic movement (as opposed to thinnest automatic encased watch)?

The answer is YES.  In 1960 the 12P broke the record for thinnest automatic movement.  At that time it was indeed the thinnest automatic movement in production, and if it was still being made today its proportions would continue to hold the record.  Piaget currently manufactures the thinnest self-winding mechanical movement at 2.35mm.
 
2) Why is the 1208P actually thicker than the 12P?  Is it because of the small seconds on the Altiplano 43mm?

As you correctly posited in your original post, the difference in thickness is NOT due to the small seconds complication.  Piaget decided to make the 1200P/1208P thicker for 3 reasons:

- A thicker rotor was crafted to increase winding power;
- The 12P during its lifetime had been used in limited quantities, and Piaget now desires to use these successor calibers to the 12P in a larger number of pieces in the future;
- These movements, like the 430P or 500P, will serve as the basis for a new movement family powering an increasing number of complications.  With this in mind, Piaget sought to conceive of an even more robust movement than the 12P to enhance reliability for long term use.

3)  Always seeking to do better than is necessary, Piaget has made a number of improvements to caliber 1200P/1208P that make them better than the original 12P.  Expertise gained through 50 years of research, construction, and engineering in the realm of ultra-thin movements has allowed Piaget to improve...

- the winding power of the rotor;
- the power reserve (42 hours vs. 40 hours);
- the precision (3 Hz vs. 2.75 Hz);
- the stability (2.9 mg/cm2);
- Suppression of the bridge visible on the 12P above the rotor (used to maintain it);
- the finish, with sunburst-brushed wheels, a dedicated regulator, the rotor engraved with circular Côtes de Genève with drawn sides.

In conclusion, with the 1200P/1208P Piaget has created more reliable and improved movements that will allow them to move forward and address the challenges of future watchmaking with confidence.

I hope this information is of interest to you.  I extend my thanks to our good friends at Piaget for their kind assistance in enlightening us.

Cheers,
Daos

Site Info.