Mapping Bvlgari, Piaget, and Richard Mille’s Glorious Pursuit of Ultra-Thin Watches

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Miniaturising hyper-horlogerie mechanics into spaces slimmer than a samurai sword has been a niche industry obsession with three contenders for the throne: Bvlgari, Richard Mille, and Piaget. Over the last decade, this contest has proven to be a spectacle of sheer innovation and micro-engineering finesse. We’re mapping it out for you.

At Watches & Wonders 2024, we witnessed two new record-setting ultra-thin watches – First, the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC, slating in as the world’s thinnest mechanical watch as well as the thinnest COSC-certified watch at 1.70 millimetres thin. Second, the Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon clinching the title for the world’s thinnest tourbillon watch at 2 millimetres thin. Bvlgari loudly celebrated their reclamation of the throne from Richard Mille, whose one-hit-wonder (so far), the UM-01 Ferrari, stole their ‘ultra-thin’ bragging rights in 2022.

Even though these marvels of miniaturisation have been around since the 1950s, considering recent advancements, it’s safe to say we’re currently living in the golden age of ultra-thin watches. Moreso, the last decade of watchmaking is proof of how heavily competitive the conquest for the ‘ultra-thin’ crown has become.

History of Ultra-Thin Watchmaking

Ultra-thin is not just Piaget’s history – it’s their DNA. While Piaget has developed over 25 ultra-thin movements over the last decades, the first was 1957’s Piaget 9P, which shrunk its mighty Swiss movement into a mere 2 millimetres of white gold. As a two-handed, time-only dress watch, the 9P wasn’t designed for functionality, like driving, flying, or diving, but instead for distinction. Piaget chose this lesser-travelled path of ultra-thinness out of deliberation and made it their new hallmark. While experts claimed that a timepiece half the thickness of industry standards couldn’t work, Piaget believed it to be a revolution.

Three years later, arrived the 12P, a self-wound remix of the 9P but slightly buffed at 2.3 millimetres. After Pieget spent the next few years shifting focus to crafting haute joaillerie novelties, the flair of ultra-thin watches was extinguished by the Quartz Crisis. The rise of the battery evicted gear trains and mainsprings traditionally resting under the bonnet, allowing for slimmer dimensions. The pinnacle of this quartz feat was 1979’s Concord Delirium, which slated in at just 1.98mm thin. Interestingly, in ‘86, Audemars Piguet stuck its head above the parapet with the Calibre 2870, which became the world’s thinnest automatic tourbillon watch at 4.6 millimetres after swapping out its rotor for a winding hammer.

New Era, Same Ultra-Thin Mission for Piaget

Right from the legendary 9P and 12P unveiled in the 50s, Piaget was clear upon which rock they’d build their church. In the 70s, the 20P movement measured in at a slick 1.2 millimetres thin, and its successor, the 25P automatic, grew by 0.8 millimetres. Hereafter, the industry witnessed a directional shift caused by the Quartz crisis and a change in vogue – Piaget’s mission of ultra-slimness was temporarily halted, only to be revived in 2014.

Celebrating the maison’s 140th anniversary, the 900P was a new-generation paean of Piaget’s ultra-slim legacy at 3.65 millimetres, followed by the 910P – an automatic version that employed a peripheral rotor and fused the main plate with the caseback. This set the stage for Piaget to create the Altiplano Ultimate Concept at 2 millimetres thin in 2018 – the world’s thinnest mechanical watch (at the time). This slender strike of brilliance claimed the throne from JLC’s Master Ultra-Thin Squelette. It eliminated the need for bridges as the balance wheel rotated on ball bearings in a mono-bloc construction. They also swapped out the index assembly for an adjustable stud. You must be wondering – where’s the crown? It’s completely flattened out and integrated into the case. The off-centred dial required the development of a patented ‘’staggered’ stem. All in all, the calibre 900P-UC offered a power reserve of 40 hours.

This finally leads us to the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon unveiled at Watches and Wonders 2024. Retaining its 2-millimetre Altiplano architecture, it now houses a magnificent flying tourbillon making it the world’s thinnest tourbillon watch. To achieve this feat, Piaget had to re-engineer 90% of the components and employ a peripheral gear system positioned between two titanium plates. Staple traits remain – movement merged onto the case and 40-hour power reserve. The hairspring is flattened and cast in gold. Measuring 41.5 millilitres, its blue PVD-coated cobalt alloy case houses the calibre 970P-UC, which is manually wound and employs a one-minute tourbillon at 4 Hz.

Enter, the Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari

In 2022, Richard Mille shocked the watch world, pulling a rabbit out of their hat with the RM UP-01 in collaboration with Ferrari. Measuring 1.75 millimetres slim, it dethroned the previous ruler, Bvlgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra, by a mere 0.05 millimetres.

Unlike Bvlgari and Piaget, who have legacies of crafting ultra-thin watches, this was Richard Mille’s debut, and they used a bizarrely brilliant architectural blueprint. Considering the extremely limited real estate at hand, watchmakers traditionally use the caseback as the baseplate for its movement. However, Richard Mille had other ideas – Instead of squishing them atop each other, Richard Mille spread out the hours, minutes, seconds, and other mechanical feats across the board. Richard Mille partnered with Audemars Piguet’s Renaud & Papi to develop this innovative architecture, employing a titanium variable inertia balance wheel to reach such constricted dimensions.

Crowns have always been an innovative aspect of ultra-thin watches, and the RM UP-01 Ferrari is no slouch. It boasts not one but two crowns. Surrounding both crowns are two black ceramic inserts that offer friction protection and aid in water resistance. Also, yes, its Grade 5 Titanium case is 10-metre water resistant. While all of this sounds delicate, this calibre plate is tested to withstand accelerations of over 5,000 Gs. Underneath, the RMUP-01 calibre runs manually and tells hours, minutes and seconds. It offers a power reserve of 45 hours. Ferrari’s bold prancing horse adorns the dial too. Limited to 150 pieces, they’re priced at a hefty USD $1.8 million.

Bvlgari’s Family of Ultra-Thin Champions

For the last decade, Bvlgari has reigned supreme as a master-craftsman of ultra-thin watches – a family they call ‘Octo Finisimo’, which started in 2014. The Octo Finisimo collection embodies Bvlgari’s mastery over complexity, year after year creating a new paradigm where watches are not just instruments of time but manifestations of life’s inexhaustible potential.

I could speak about these marvels of micro-engineering for days on end, but here’s a quick list of Bvlgari’s record-breaking watches unveiled over the last decade:

• 2014: Octo Finissimo Tourbillon – Thinnest Tourbillon Movement/Watch (at the time)
• 2016: Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater – Thinnest Minute Repeater Watch (record held till date)
• 2017: Octo Finissimo Automatic – Thinnest Automatic Watch (at the time)
• 2018: Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic – Thinnest Automatic Tourbillon Watch (at the time)
• 2019: Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT – Thinnest Mechanical Chronograph Movement
• 2020: Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Chronograph Skeleton Automatic – Thinnest Tourbillon Chronograph
• 2021: Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar – Thinnest Perpetual Calendar
• 2022: Octo Finissimo Ultra – Thinnest Mechanical Watch (at the time)
• 2024: Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC – Thinnest Mechanical Watch

Ah! Finally, the Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC – the eighth wonder of the world which allowed Bvlgari to reclaim the throne of ultra-slimness. After RM beat the Italians in 2022 by 0.05 millimetres, I knew they barged through their R&D lab doors in Rome and worked overtime. The result was the new Ultra, going 0.05 millimetres slimmer than RM’s UM-01 Ferrari with a bonus of being COSC-certification – making it also the world’s thinnest chronometer-certified watch. Thinner than ever, the new Ultra is a mere 1.70 millimetres thin with enhanced architecture and a new Datamatrix, which replaces the NFT QR code of the old-gen Ultra.

Limited to 20 pieces, it will be cased in 40-millimetre titanium. The movement inside is the BLV 180, which is manually wound and delivers a 50-hour power reserve.

As of 2024, here’s an up-to-date ranking of the world’s thinnest watches:

1. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC (2024): 1.70mm thick
2. Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari (2022): 1.75mm thick
3. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Ultra (2022): 1.80mm thick
4. Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept (2018): 2.00mm thick
5. Piaget Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon (2024): 2.00mm thick
6. Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Squelette (2015): 3.60mm thick
7. Piaget Altiplano 900P (2013): 3.65mm thick
8. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon (2014): 5.00mm thick
9. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Automatic (2017): 5.15mm thick
10. Bvlgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar (2021): 5.80mm thick

Read more about these top 10 world’s thinnest watches.