New Year’s Resolution to Get Thin? Let Piaget Help: the Piaget Emperador Coussin Ultra-Thin Minute Repeater

At SIHH 2013, Piaget’s in-house constructed minute repeater, their first minute repeater, made its debut.  Not only is it a first for Piaget, but the watch holds two firsts in the watch world: thinnest movement (4.8mm) and thinnest case (9.4mm). Let’s have a closer look at the spectacular Piaget Emperador Coussin ultra-thin minute repeater.

That kind of slenderness is good looking, super-model thin. This Emperador Coussin is not only a beauty, but oh can she sing.  When it comes to New Year’s resolutions, forget the gym.  Just strap on this eye popper, let the repeater ring in the New Year and the masses will know, thin is in.  Given some of the wrist monstrosities out there, some may find this offering a welcome relief.

In the Emperador Coussin family, we told you about the Large Moon (860P caliber) and the XL Tourbillon (1270P caliber), and now we round out the ultra-thin discussion with the E.C. Automatic Minute Repeater (1290P caliber).  This new caliber is based on its predecessor, the 1200P, the world’s thinnest automatic movement found in the Altiplano.  In the 1290P, things have gotten even smaller with some wheels measuring .12mm and other components measuring a mere .07mm.  Microscopic might be a better word for the inner workings of this watch.

Such a thin watch results in rethinking design to accommodate a movement that fits the curves of the case so closely as to be one with the case.  There is a platinum micro-rotor because platinum provides the best weight to size ratio for winding power.  The repeater slide device at nine o’clock slides downwards instead of upwards.  These integrations make for a svelte watch that fits some 407 parts inside the case.

If there is one major complication that is particularly difficult to produce, it would definitely be the Minute Repeater. To also enrich the movement with an automatic winding mechanism; to endow it with an exceptional sound; to offer the thinnest calibre in its category along with the thinnest case; to guarantee water resistance to 3 ATM; and to achieve all this 100% in-house: this array of individual feats form a unique accomplishment that is unique in the world of Haute Horlogerie.

Three years in the making, this completely in-house designed watch is assembled in two locations: the movement is made at La Côte-aux-Fées, and the case is made at Plan-Les-Ouates.  This is Piaget’s 4^th major complication out of some 35 in-house movements including 11 major complications developed in the last 14 years.  One example is the 600P caliber, the world’s thinnest hand-wound shaped tourbillon, in the Gouverneur Tourbillon.  Piaget is one of only a few vertically integrated, Haute Horology manufacturers.

A minute repeater’s sine qua non is its sound.  Some gongs sound too high like tin, and some so low as to be practically inaudible.  You will hear the Piaget.  If most conversation ranges in the 65 decibel range, the repeater measures 64 decibels – a conversation partner indeed.  What will you hear?  Three virtually harmonic partials struck by two steel hammers on a one piece gong.  An inertia flywheel regulates the rhythm from start to finish.  The hours strike a G sharp, and the minutes hit an A sharp, offering an on-demand concert with just a push of the slide.

See and hear for yourself:

A perfect resolution for 2013 is to purchase Piaget’s Emperador Coussin Automatic Minute Repeater.