Piaget Salon Belles Montres 2012 Movements

Like the previous years, Piaget was present at the 2012 Salon Belles Montres.

As I shot a lot of pictures at Salon QP, I decided to focus the report on the movements to show you their diversity which highlight the skills of the Manufacture.

Let's start with some pictures of the booth:




Obviously, Piaget communicates a lot about the ultra-thin movements but it would be a big mistake to reduce the offer to these movements only. Piaget is able to do much more even if an ultra-thin movement requires a lot of control and a very specific know-how.

On the right side of the picture, the now famous Altiplano Ultra-Thin Skeleton sadly not available at the Salon:

The young watchmaker present at the Salon came with a wide range of movements including some of the past.

As you now, a Piaget Tourbillon is always a Flying one. The 600P is one of my fav movements from Piaget. Why?

Because it has a rectangular shape, because the Tourbillon behaviour is hypnotizing...

I paste here what I wrote last year about Piaget Tourbillons:

So, why the Piaget Tourbillon are different?

First of it required 3 years of development. It is a  flying Tourbillons, the cage is hung only by one axis.

The cage only contains 42 parts which is quite low: a symbol of simplicity, of efficiency and of lightness: 0,2g.

The bridges are made of Titanium

The  "P" integrated into the cage doesn't have a symetric shape: so the addition of this letter brought a lot of difficulty to get again the right balance and stability of the Tourbillon behaviour:it was not an obvious challenge.

The axis of the balance wheel is off-centered inside the cage to make the whole Tourbillon thinner.

And of course, the 600P is the thinnest Flying Tourbillon of the industry.

We don't have to forget that Piaget is the only Manufacture which currently offers a skeletonized version of its Tourbillon with gems setting.

I always have the same feeling when I observe this 600P movement... on both sides!

Dial side:

And bridges side:

The 600P has a power reserve of 44 hours and a frequency of 3hz.

The 9P2 was an evolution of the iconic 9P. It has a 2,15mm thickness... just 0,15mm more than the original 9P. Surprinsingly, it has 86 components while the 9P had 89, a proof that the architecture was slightly changed! Diameter remains the same with 20,5mm.

One of the unusual features of the 9P and 9P2 is the 2,75hz frequency.

A very refined movement:

Shall I need to introduce you the 1208P?

As you can see it on the picture, it is not exactly the same movement that you will find on the Altiplano Automatic 43mm because for training and demonstration purpose, this one doesn't have a gold rotor.

Anyway, it remains a beautiful movement to observe thanks to its micro-rotor.

It is currently the thinnest automatic movement with a total height of 2,35mm. The power reserve is 44 hours and it has a 3hz frequency.

1208P diameter is 29,9mm. The Altiplano Ultra-Thin Skeleton gave the proof that it is perfect with a case around 38/40mm. I really think that Piaget should consider an automatic Altiplano within this case diameter range. I find it too big with its 43mm case due to the very high diameter/thickness ratio.

The 830P (and its brother the 838P) is another movement I really like and a perfect companion for a daily use. I like to wind it!

It was clearly inspired by the 9P but it has a lot of changes.

First of all, it is much larger: 26,8mm. It is slightly thicker: 2,5mm what is still an excellent watchmaking pertormance.

But the feature I really appreciate is its power reserve: 61 hours with such fineness is a proof of a very efficient architecture. It has a 3hz frequency.

I also like the bridges shapes and its lay-out. And if you like circular Côtes de Genève, this movement is for you!

The 830P is housed in the Double-jeu while the 838P is the usual movement for the handwind 40mm Altiplano.

What is the difference between the 830P and the 838P? The last one has a small second hand at 10 o'clock while the 830P powers two hands watches only.

The 61P is a small and nice movement dedicated to Ladies' watches. I love the shape of its gear train bridge!

I already spoke about the 830P/838P previously. Here is the skeletonized version of these movements.

The black PVD finishing makes it very contemporary. The handwind Altiplano Skeleton uses it and I especially like it with the PG case.

You can clearly see the mainspring on this picture which gives the 61 hours of power reserve. We are talking about a 838 movement so it gets a small second hand at 10 o'clock.

The young watchmaker had a lot of pleasure to show us the various movements. He worked a lot on the 1208P which was one of the fav movements of the visitors due to its micro-rotor:

Lucky him... he was wearing this Emperador Moonphase!

The movement of this watch is the 860P and sadly, I don't have picture of it outside of its case.

All these movements share the same care of details and the very refined and sober style of finishings. From the most simple ones like the 9P2 or the 61P to the 600P and its flying tourbillon, they all embody the skills of the Piaget Manufacture thanks to their clever architectures, their efficiency and the pleasure to wear/use them on a daily basis.

Thanks a lot to the Piaget team for the warm welcome during the Salon.

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