Piaget has created many celebrated watches during almost eight decades as a manufacture, but the collection for which it is especially famed is the Altiplano. The Altiplano watches are the ultimate expression of the Maison ultrathin savoir-faire. The origins of the Altiplano go right back to the first ultrathin Piaget dress watches that were born from the creation of the hand-wound 9P calibre in 1957, one of the slimmest mechanical movements of the era. It was followed by the 2.3mm 12P calibre of 1960, which instantly captured a record for being the thinnest self-winding movement ever made. Since then, Piaget has set further records by creating ultra-thin movements across the whole range of horological categories from skeleton and diamond-set skeleton watches to those featuring date displays and others powered by automatic and manual-winding mechanisms.
In 2020, the Maison has also been responsible for the thinnest mechanical watch in the world, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept which is only 2mm thin, a fitting tribute to 60 years as “the king of ultra-thin”. The name “Altiplano” as we know it today, was introduced in 1998 to describe an ongoing line of ultra-thin and superbly elegant designs – the latest of which is the Altiplano Origin 35mm, the first 35mm Altiplano to be fitted with the self-winding 501P movement. Both the gold case and the movement are produced entirely in-house – thus creating a ‘perfect pair’ for men and women cuff watches, dazzling gem-setting and the fearless use of colour. Available in beautifully understated form with a plain rose gold case, or with rose or white gold cases featuring bezels subtly adorned with 76 brilliant-cut diamonds set by Piaget’s master jewellers, the Altiplano Origin 35mm exudes quiet elegance in every guise.