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Bvlgari regains world record. On Monday, the Italian luxury brand with its Swiss watchmaking division reclaimed the record for the world’s thinnest mechanical wristwatch.
At 1.7 millimeters thick, the Octo Finissimo Ultra Mark II is 0.05 millimeters thinner than Richard Mille’s RM UP-01 Ferrari (1.75 millimeters), which took the record from Bulgari’s 1.8 millimeter Octo Finissimo Ultra two years ago.
difference? At 0.5 mm, it’s about the same thickness as office printer paper.
“This is science fiction,” Antoine Pin, managing director of Bulgari’s watchmaking division, said of his record-breaker. “It excites people and brings global attention to this field. After all, people do not come to Bvlgari for rational purposes, and to perfect the process of time management mechanical watches I don’t even buy it.”
The competition for the world’s thinnest mechanical watch has intensified in recent years.
Long-established watchmakers such as Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Piaget had been quietly competing for ultra-thin supremacy for decades, but in 2014 Bvlgari’s newly created luxury watchmaking division , the first 5mm Octo Finissimo tourbillon to enter the record books. , then the world’s thinnest tourbillon (Piaget was set to break the record on Tuesday with the introduction of the 2-millimeter-thick Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon).
Bvlgari is now recognized as one of the leaders in ultra-thin watchmaking, and with this new watch they set the ninth thinnest world record. Its thinness is highly prized by collectors and fellow manufacturers, as the reduction of parts can affect the integrity of a watch’s components and their functionality.
Is Bulgari just doing it for the glory? Mr. Ping claimed that his primary motivation was the advancement of watchmaking technology.
“The idea was always to make sure we were proposing something horologically valuable, rather than doing something for the sake of it,” he said. “The paradox is that we work in an industry bound to the past, yet projecting it into the future. It’s more interesting than this concept of breaking thinness records. is the scientific concept of “chronometry,” or the precise measurement of time.
Ping said the Octo Finissimo Mark II is not only a tenth of a millimeter thinner than the original Ultra, it is also more accurate, earning it the Chronometer Mark awarded by Switzerland’s independent Swiss Chronometer Administration, known as COSC. said that it has been achieved. New clock face.
In most cases, watch movements are tested by COSC before being inserted into the case. However, because the Ultra Mark II case and movement are fused, each is tested as a unit.
Ping said it is statistically impossible to say exactly how accurate the watch will be, as each of the 20 numbered limited editions planned for production will likely vary slightly. Ta. (He acknowledged that some watches can’t even meet COSC accuracy requirements, with some clocks being off by up to four seconds a day, or up to six seconds a day.)
Ping also said that despite its ultra-thinness, the new watch will be sturdy. “Just because it’s small doesn’t mean it’s fragile,” he said. “It was important to never forget the fundamentals of watchmaking: to be worn over time.”
He added that the original Ultra’s purchaser wore it while golfing. “But we would never advise that,” he said.
The new watch has a 40mm thick sandblasted titanium case and a 1.5mm thick bracelet made of the same material, and maintains the original model’s 50-hour power reserve. Ping said the micromechanics lessons established by the company’s ultra-thin watches could one day be applied to larger models.
“Fifteen years ago, no one would have imagined that you could make a watch this thin and turn it into a chronometer,” he said. “Ten years from now he will find a watch with a two-month power reserve.”
There are two differences between the original Ultra and the new watch. The Ultra Mark II lacks a QR code on the watch face and a blockchain-backed certificate. Instead, each watch will have a unique QR code on its back. That code includes a link to an online product manual specific to each individual watch, which Bvlgari calls a Data Matrix, and also includes a general video of the Ultra His Mark II in production. .
Mr. Ping said he was pleased that other brands working on ultra-thin watches had helped Bvlgari become thinner.
“Piaget’s record was very important for us to develop our own product,” he said of Piaget’s 2mm Altiplano Ultimate Concept, which debuted in 2018. “If Piaget or Richard Mille set a new record, there would be a lot we could learn from each other.” “
After all, he said: “For us, just because we achieved this record doesn’t mean it’s over.”
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