Home » The Salon International De La Haute Horlogerie » SIHH 2013 Preview – Piaget Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater Watch
The Swiss watchmaker Piaget will mark the beginning of the New Year with the new model – Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater Watch. This newcomer that will be officially presented in January at the SIHH 2013 is equipped with the world’s thinnest movement of its kind.
The beating heart of the new Piaget timepiece is the Caliber 1290P which is only 4.8mm thick. The entire watch is made in-house; the movement is crafted in Piaget workshop in La Côte-aux-Fées, while the case is made in a workshop located in Plan-les-Ouates.
Piaget Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater Watch
The world’s thinnest minute repeater mechanism consists of 407 parts and it is encrusted with the highest level of hand-crafted finishing. Interestingly, some of its parts measure as little as 0.07mm in thickness.
This mechanism is based on the world’s thinnest automatic movement Caliber 1200P. It took three years for six Piaget engineers to create the Caliber 1290P. Its micro-rotor was crafted in platinum in order to guarantee the best possible winding power within a minimum thickness. For the ultimate precision, the movement boasts the surprise-piece device that ensures an optimal hour jump at the end of the 59th minute so as to ensure that the striking mechanism indicates the exact time to the nearest second. Furthermore, the audio from the minute repeater is quite impressive at 65 decibels in volume.
Caliber 1290P – Back Side
Piaget is well-known among watch connoisseurs for creating very thin movements. A few years ago, the Swiss manufacturer started producing movements of different types and complications that are the thinnest of their kind. Piaget has already made the world’s thinnest mechanical movement, as well as a range of others, such as the world’s thinnest tourbillon and automatic tourbillon.
Caliber 1290P – Front Side
Although the Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater watch has the thinnest mechanical minute repeater movement, its case definitely is not the smallest one. The diameter of the 18-karats rose gold case is 48mm, while the total width of the watch is 9.4mm.
The Dial of Piaget Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater
The new Piaget timepiece has an open-worked dial which allows a view of the intricate mechanism, with nicely manufactured hour markers, crafted from 18-karat rose gold. Also, the case back provides a very nice look over the gold micro-rotor of the automatically-wound movement.
Piaget Emperador Coussin XL Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater Case Back
According to the manufacturer, this mechanism boasts the most prestigious level of finishing ever performed by the manufacture. Decorations are entirely done by hand; bridges bevelled and handdrawn with a file, sunburst or circular satin-brushed wheels, pink gold-toned screws and oscillating weight, mirror-polished finishing.
The new Piaget Emperador Coussin XL Ultra Thin Minute Repeater will debut next month in Geneva at SIHH 2013 and will be priced at over $250,000.
Where as the complication must be appreciated the readability of the watch face is very difficult. Aren’t watches suppose to be just that? Watches are time keeping pieces to tell the time and not guess at.