Britain's Time to Shine

History Makers

The Salon was also a unique opportunity to take a look at models that were continuing a series of record-breaking innovations.

Piaget has been making headlines with its ultra-thin movements, and this year it presented the world’s thinnest automatic skeleton watch, measuring a mere 5.34mm. The Altiplano Skeleton Ultra-Thin is also powered by the world’s thinnest skeleton movement, at 2.40mm, the Calibre 1200S. It took more than three years of research to get the timepiece pared down to this level. Highlights include a micro-rotor in 950 platinum, a brand new symmetrical balance-bridge and a slimmed down hour-wheel bridge.

Harry Winston showcased its 12th Opus, which is astonishing to watch in action. The watch, initially launched at Baselworld, was created in collaboration with watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet, an expert in minute repeaters. Instead of regular hands, two blued hands shows the hour and the minute, but what’s unique about this watch is that at the turn of each hour, an animation of the 12 hands occurs, resembling a wave, with the blued hand moving around the indicators until it stops on the new hour. At the centre of the dial are a retrograde five-minute indicator, subsidiary seconds dial, and power reserve indicator. The watch comes in a 46mm 18k white gold case with the centre in Zalium.