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PIAGET Altiplano Saga: Part 5 – The Living Daylights – Skeleton Altiplanos

PIAGET Altiplano Saga: Part 5 – The Living Daylights – Skeleton Altiplanos

By Dr Melvyn Teillol-Foo

Vintage Piaget skeleton watches

There have been only a few vintage Piaget watches with skeleton movement. Despite being a movement manufacture since 1874, Piaget has not been so flamboyant in the past. We can only speculate that it was not the Calvinistic nor family way to show off with an exuberant display. We know that the master craftsmen at Piaget were capable of artisitic expression as demonstrated by this highly decorated 9P movement.

9P2 engraved movement

The odd exception may be this rock crystal and emerald pocket watch, now residing in the Piaget Private Collection.

Rock crystal and emerald pocket watch

Here are a few examples of Piaget skeletonised watches:

Reference 9652 in yellow gold was made in 1978; with Piaget ultra-thin mechanical hand-wound movement 9P.

Reference 9652 in white gold was made in 1986; with Piaget ultra-thin mechanical hand-wound movement 9P.

Reference 2693 Piaget Polo was made in 1982; with Piaget ultra-thin mechanical hand-wound movement 20P.

Reference G0A23089 in platinum was made in 1998; with Piaget self-winding movement 295P.

Special Edition for Venice made in 1999.

21st Century Piaget skeleton watches

In 2004, Piaget launched its first skeleton tourbillon. It was an impressive achievement to open the bridges and plate of the thinnest shaped tourbillon movement in the world.

While mastery of ultra-thin movements remains the preserve of a handful of great watch manufacturers, “skeletonising” or open-working this type of calibre is a truly outstanding exception. The Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Piaget unites under one roof the entire range of professions involved in watchmaking and jewellery-making, a rare degree of integration that already enabled it to present a watch-industry first in the shape of an ultra-thin movement that was not only openworked but also gem-set: Calibre 600P. Compounded by the fact that this movement was also the world’s thinnest shaped tourbillon movement, such an impressive achievement certainly deserves due praise.

In 2005, the Manufacture decided to go one step further by setting this ultra-thin plate. The set skeleton tourbillon was born, illustrating perfectly Piaget historical double know-how.

In 2008, Manufacture Piaget launched its first hand-wound ultra-thin skeleton mechanical movement – the 838S in rhodium colour. The 838P (2.5 mm thin) was slightly thickened (2.7 mm) to allow decoration (sun-burst guilloche) and skeletonisation of the plates and bridges. This new 838S movement became popular thanks to its thinness and modern design. The sun-burst guilloche starting from the small seconds at 10 o'clock underlines the ex-centered seconds, which is the signature of the Altiplano line. The plate was cut by machine (Electric Discharge Machining) but decorated by hand.

In 2009, a variation of the 838S movement was launched with a modern black PVD treatment.

In 2010, Piaget launched the automatic 1208P movement as a stunning display of its mastery of ultra-thinness. That same year, the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie chose to illustrate its two-fold legitimacy as a watchmaker and a jeweller by introducing a new ultra-thin gem-set movement: Calibre 838D.

Piaget Altiplano Gem-set Skeleton 40 mm Calibre 838D
A dedicated reinforced solid gold mainplate had to be developed in order to support the gem-setting which was naturally to be extensive as possible. The result is truly spectacular: 0.48 carats of full-cut diamonds, meaning no less than 174 stones set into a single movement measuring just 3.10 mm thick.

The calibre is finished in compliance with the signature codes of the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Piaget: sunburst guilloché bridges, bevelling, circular graining and hand-drawn mainplate and bridges, blued screws, circular satin-brushed wheels. The finished result is harmoniously integrated within the case thanks to a flange set with 144 diamonds totalling 0.91 carats. Crafted in 18-carat white gold with a bezel set with 72 diamonds totalling 1.01 carats, this watch is available exclusively from Piaget boutiques.

Gem-setting an ultra-thin skeletonised movement is an extremely complex task, since it requires modifications of its fundamental structure. Each part to be set, whether a plate or bridge, must be just thick enough to accommodate the jewelling while remaining sufficiently rigid – all the while maintaining the extreme overall slenderness of the movement. Following the style of the 600P set skeleton, that 838S movement was the perfect basis to illustrate double know-how with a new technical achievement. Piaget started the development with a 2.7 mm thick calibre that had to be slightly modified to allow gem-setting; the finished movement is still only 3.1 mm thin. The plates were changed to 14K gold that allowed gem-setting of the whole mainplate. Usually, other makers gem-set plates that are added on the movement and only components that are not functional parts.

Piaget was determined to fully gem-set all the plates including functional parts. Some of these parts were very thin. As an example, Piaget also set the part of the plate located above the barrel despite its 0.8 mm of thickness. For this development, the tolerances are measured at the micron level. This new project required full collaboration between watch and jewellery experts at the Manufacture. These two Piaget corporations learned to work together to invent a way to achieve this movement. In general, a movement is set at the end of the assembly process. For this calibre, Piaget had to proceed differently; the setting is done first! A gold plate is set, then manufactured and cut with a file. An amazing achievement when the distance between the diamond and the border is only 0.3 mm. This extremely difficult setting can only be realised today by only two Piaget jewellers. A single plate takes 2.5 days to gem-set.

Conclusion
With the gem-set skeleton movements 600P and 838D, Piaget fans who cannot decide between the three classic skills of haute horlogerie – ultra-thin, skeletonisation and gem-setting – can have it all in one model. This is true to the Piaget family motto: “Faire toujours mieux que nécessaire” (Always do better than necessary). 

PIAGET Altiplano Saga series:

Part 1 - The World is Not Thin Enough – Manual 9P movement:
piaget.watchprosite.com   

Part 2  – GoldenEye – Automatic 12P movement:
piaget.watchprosite.com

Part 3 – For Your Eyes Only – Enamel Altiplanos:
piaget.watchprosite.com

Part 4 – From La Côte-aux-Fées, With Love – Diamonds Are Forever (Exceptional Altiplanos):
piaget.watchprosite.com

Part 5 – The Living Daylights – Skeleton Altiplanos:
piaget.watchprosite.com

Part 6  – Never Say Never Thin Again – Automatic 1200P/1208P movements
piaget.watchprosite.com

Part 7  – Quantum of Solace – Special Altiplanos and Updates
piaget.watchprosite.com

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