From the appearance alone, the ultra-thin watch is not good. Only from the side can you understand its uniqueness: it is much thinner than ordinary watches. This is not a big deal in the eyes of ordinary people, but those who know the structure of mechanical watches know that the most technical place is the ultra-thin movement.
The term ‘thick accumulation and thin hair’ perfectly interprets the unique oriental wisdom, which originates from Su Shi’s ‘Miscellaneous Talks to Zhang Hu’-‘Broadview and appointment, thick accumulation and thin hair’. The sages often said that everything must be done slowly, after a long and prepared accumulation, with a sense of normality, and then do things little by little, you can do one thing well. ‘the meaning of.
This word reminds me of a very popular movie ‘Beijing Meets Seattle’ in April this year. Unlike the blockbuster American blockbusters, it is very ‘calm’. The movie is intertwined with many topics such as ‘extramarital affairs’ and ‘surrogacy’, but the smart director did not let them collide, but let the topic support the topic. This refreshed audiences who used to watch explosive scenes and bizarre plots, and also gave the film a “good accumulation” style.
Of course, we are not talking about the film. In April, the film’s actor Wu Xiubo was invited to Xi’an by the count for an event. Invited to go, in addition to the positive male lead, I am more concerned about the earl’s watches. The event brought a lot of great works, including Piaget Polo Tourbillon Relatif watches, which Piaget created for Xi’an, and a series of other products, but what attracted me was Piaget’s ultra-thin watch series.
Piaget has made great achievements in the production of ultra-thin watches, which is closely related to its century-old watchmaking history. More than 100 years ago, in the snowy winter, when people in the small village of La Cote-aux-Fées in the Jurassic Mountains of Switzerland cringed by their fireplaces, 19-year-old Georges-Edouard Piaget devoted himself to watchmaking in his own farm. Technology, it is this young man who laid the foundation for Piaget’s century-old glory. In 1911, Timothée Piaget took over the Piaget, and after the best efforts, Piaget’s quality was recognized by the industry. Brands such as Omega and Cartier also began to use Piaget movements. Luxury and precision have gradually become Piaget’s brand logo.
If Piaget continues to develop inertially, then until now, it can only be regarded as a ‘local tyrant’, and the advancement of history always requires the promotion of one or two characters. The appearance of the Piaget family Gérald and Valentin has made Piaget in the ultra-thin watchmaking field Dominate.
Before the first half of the 20th century, both pocket watches and wristwatches were very ‘heavy’, while Gérald and Valentin set new ground to focus on reducing the size of the movement and adopting more novel shapes to show the beauty of the watch. Ring watches, gold coin watches, ultra-thin watches and other works have come out one after another. The ultra-thin advancement of movements and watches has made Piaget the focus of much attention, and has also launched a revolution in watchmaking.
When it comes to complex watches, we often hang watch models such as ‘Tourbillon’, ‘Perpetual Calendar’, ‘Chronograph’, etc. In fact, ultra-thin watches are regarded as the lowest-profile ‘complex watches’. From the appearance alone, the ultra-thin watch has a low profile. Only from the side can you understand its uniqueness: it is much thinner than ordinary watches. This is not a big deal in the eyes of ordinary people, but those who know the structure of mechanical watches know that the most technical place is the ultra-thin movement. The mechanical watch movement consists of several major systems such as the “primary drive system” and “transmission system” and dozens or even hundreds of parts. It is necessary to combine so many parts as thin as possible and ensure normal operation. A very difficult task. Generally speaking, a hand-wound movement with a thickness of less than 3 mm is called an ultra-thin movement, and an ultra-thin automatic movement with a thickness of less than 5 mm.
In 1958, Piaget introduced a historic product and successfully developed a 12P movement with a thickness of only 2.3 mm, becoming the world’s thinnest automatic winding movement at the time. Hundreds of movement parts are processed as thin as cicadas and perfectly meshed together for normal operation. Without years of technical reserves, it is absolutely impossible to use. The term ‘thick accumulation and thin hair’ is used to describe the production of ultra-thin watches. It’s just too apt.
During the count’s Xi’an event, I was fortunate to talk with Mr. Murong Tao, the chief executive officer of Piaget China. During that period, I asked the Chinese market as a big cake. Many brands are fiercely competing for a cup. What is Piaget’s advantage? He replied with a smile: ‘We have been pursuing quality and creativity for hundreds of years. We have always adhered to this principle and calmed down to get things done rather than spending too much time thinking about what our competitors are doing.’ Think carefully, do Fortunately, we really need to accumulate a lot of money.
In fact, ultra-thin watches are not the ‘patent’ of Piaget. As early as a hundred years ago, Jaeger-LeCoultre launched a movement with a thickness of only 1.38 millimeters and a specially designed case with an overall thickness of only 4.05 millimeters. Although it is manually wound, the thickness of 1.38 mm is enough to make Jaeger-LeCoultre famous. It should be known that the thickness of a dollar coin is also about 2 mm.
On the surface, ultra-thin watches have high requirements on the watchmaker’s processing skills. It seems to be a technical task. In fact, it involves a number of technologies such as metal smelting and industrial processing in a country. It can be said that it is an overall display of a country’s industrial system . Because the movement requires not only meticulous combination calculations, but also parts with considerable strength and precision machining, a slight difference will affect normal operation.
By comparison, what about domestic mechanical watches? A friend used to complain that his domestically produced mechanical watch was stolen, and when the watch was opened, it was found that two gears were not meshing properly. A slight external vibration would affect the movement of the movement. This watch is also a relatively well-known brand in China. With the development of the market economy, many domestic brands have become more and more aware of the operation of the market, but in order to be truly recognized by consumers, it also depends on convincing quality. On the road of machinery manufacturing, we have to make up for lessons.
The development history of Jaeger-LeCoultre’s ultra-thin watches also contains a good story about the great masters and great men. Under the leadership of Jacques-David LeCoultre (1875-1948) at the beginning of the 20th century, Jaeger-LeCoultre successfully entered the international arena. One of the products it developed was an ultra-thin watch that was not favored at the time. At that time, the industrialist Edmond Jaeger asked Swiss watchmakers to create the world’s thinnest movement, which was rejected by most manufacturers. Le Corte, however, has a keen eye foreseeing that the thinness of the watch will surely be swept in the future. Le Corte and Jaeger first met in 1903, and the two hit it off. Le Cortet prompted Jaeger-LeCoultre to start developing ultra-thin movements. In 1907, the Jaeger-LeCoultre watch factory introduced a 17-leg Lepine 145 movement. Its thickness of 1.38 mm broke the record at the time and became the thinnest mechanical device at that time, which is of great significance. It is not even an exaggeration to say that today, this movement is still the thinnest in its class.
The driving force behind the progress of human society lies in constant competition and development. It is the constant “comparison” of major brands that has made the Swiss watch industry overwhelmingly a century. In 1946, the watchmaking giant Audemars Piguet introduced an ultra-thin hand-wound movement with a thickness of only 1.64 mm, and then based on this movement, launched the Cal.2003 hollow ultra-thin movement in 1953. . The ultra-thin movement was originally very fine, and it was not easy to rework it. Because the material of the plywood can not meet the smelting requirements, it cannot bear the strength of the movement of the movement, and if the processing technology is not close, it will cause damage to the plywood and other parts.
In fact, it is not only mechanical watches that achieve “thick accumulation but thin hair”. Older Swiss watch manufacturers are also very interested in ultra-thin quartz watches. 1976 Piaget 7P caliber was launched. It was the smallest quartz movement at that time. Ten years later, EAT launched the Elegance Calibre 210. The thickness of the caliber was even less than 1 mm, which was astounding.
In the new century, watchmakers continue to work hard on the road of thinning and thinning watches, and use new materials for the production of ultra-thin watches. Radar launched the True Thinline series of watches made of high-tech ceramics in 2011. All watch parts have been redesigned. The thinnest case is only 4.9 mm. Today, Radar and Seiko have also introduced quartz movements with a thickness of about 1 mm.
Of course, it is easier to make a quartz watch thinner than a mechanical watch, and from the perspective of storage and appreciation, mechanical ultra-thin models have inherent advantages and are definitely more potential than quartz ultra-thin watches (quartz made of precious metals Except for ultra-thin watches), ultra-thin quartz watches are now mostly positioned as fashion accessories.
Anyway, ultra-thin watches are definitely a benchmark for advanced watchmaking technology, which measures the strength of a brand or even a country’s industrial processing and manufacturing. I always remember the chat with Mr. Murong Tao, ‘We have always adhered to this principle and calm down to do things well, instead of spending too much time thinking about what competitors are doing.’ This is not exactly what our ancestors adhered to. The essence of ‘thick and thin hair’?