Not long ago, RICHARD MILLE launched the RM UP-01 ultra-thin watch and broke the record with a thickness of 1.75 mm, becoming the thinnest mechanical watch in the world. RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 Ultra-thin watch.

Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept 3

Watch thickness: 2mm

Core design: case bottom cover is used as the movement main plywood, movement single-layer layout, and unique crown clutch gear.

Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept, internal structure.

is currently a famous watch in the world, ranking third in thinner watch, and is the Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept ultra-thin watch. Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept became the "world's number one" at that time since its release in 2018. Although the Earl has been surpassed by Bulgari and RICHARD MILLE and has become the third in the world now, in my heart, the Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept is the real king, because the Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept has no simplification or compromise in design, and has completely retained the movement structure of the traditional famous watch and achieved super thinness.

Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept Ultra-thin watch

Earl first directly uses the watch bottom cover as the movement main plywood, installing the wheel trains on the watch bottom cover, canceling the traditional separate movement. The Count spread the transmission wheel train, barrel, balance wheel, and escapement all in one layer, eliminating the upper and lower layers in traditional movements. Including the barrel and balance wheel, they are also fixed to the ball bearing, replacing the traditional gear shaft , and the thickness is reduced through these methods.

Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept uses case bottom cover as movement plywood.

You can also see that the Altiplano Ultimate Concept retains the traditional hour-hand minute dial and the traditional crown. The most exquisite thing about the Altiplano Ultimate Concept design is the crown pinwheel system. Because in the crown pin train of the mechanical watch, the clutch gear is a standing gear, which becomes the biggest obstacle to thinning. The Count designed a "exquisite" spiral clutch gear, allowing the "standing" gear to "lie down". While retaining the traditional crown, the thickness is reduced.

Earl Altiplano Ultimate Concept, crown pulls out state.

second place, Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra

Watch thickness: 1.8 mm

Core design: case bottom cover is used as the main plywood of the movement, single-layer layout of the movement, hour and minute hands separation, and cancel the traditional crown.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra, internal construction.

is currently the world's famous watch, ranking second-thin watch, Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra ultra-thin watch. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra, which started its launch in March 2022, broke the 2mm record of the Altiplano Ultimate Concept and became the "world's number one" with a thickness of 1.8mm. In order to further reduce the thickness, Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra has cancelled some of the constructions on traditional famous watches.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra ultra-thin watch

Bulgari also uses the watch bottom cover as the movement main plywood, and the wheel trains are installed on the back cover of the watch, which has cancelled the traditional independent movement. Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra also spreads the movement wheel system and lays it on the first floor. But one step closer than the Count was that Bulgari separated the hour and minute hands of the watch.The hour hand disc is at 2 o'clock and the minute hand disc is at 4 o'clock. The hour and minute hands are not on one axis and the two pointers do not overlap, which reduces the thickness again. The Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra retains a small second dial at 6 o'clock on the plate. This is the only watch with a small second hand among the three ultra-thin watches, Earl, Bulgari and RICHARD MILLE.

Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra, using the case bottom cover as the movement clamp.

In the crown pin wheel system, the biggest obstacle of this ultra-thin watch, Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra chose to give up the crown. This way, there is no problem of solving the crown clutch gear. Bulgari's method is to replace the crown function with two trackwheels (two small wheels). A pluck is at 3 o'clock on the right side of the case, which is used to wind the watch. Another trackwheel is 8 o'clock on the left side of the case, which is used to adjust the time. The Altiplano Ultimate Concept also retained at least one crown clutch gear. Bulgari did not use clutch gear at all, and the thickness dropped a little.

The yellow circle is the pluck that adjusts the time.

first place, RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01

Watch thickness: 1.75 mm

Core design: independent movement, single-layer layout of movement, special escapement mechanism, cancellation of traditional crown.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01, internal structure.

Currently, the number one watch in the world of ultra-thin watches is this RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 ultra-thin watch. RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 has been launched in July 2022, breaking the Bulgari record of 1.8 mm and becoming the "world's number one" with a thickness of 1.75 mm. To achieve the thinnest in the world, the RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 uses many unconventional designs.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 and case and movement structure.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 is different from Count and Bulgari. RICHARD MILLE uses an independent movement with a thickness of 1.18 mm. After being installed, the entire watch is 1.75 mm. The reason why RICHARD MILLE is to make a traditional independent movement instead of installing the wheel train directly on the bottom cover of the watch like Count and Bulgari is because RICHARD MILLE focuses on sports and has strength requirements for the watch (with 5000G gravity acceleration ). Put the independent movement into the case and add the movement in the middle, so the case can enhance the watch. The wheel system of the RM UP-01 watch is also spread out and laid out on the first floor.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 independent movement structure.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 Winding and adjusting keyhole.

Regarding the issue of crown tick, RICHARD MILLE completely canceled the crown, and even the plucks on the case like Bulgari were gone. Only on the dial, the "keyhole" is retained. Use the "Five-corner key" to wind the watch and adjust the time (the key hole at 10 o'clock is the winding and adjust the time selection; the key hole at 8 o'clock is the winding and adjust the time selection selection. RICHARD MILLE On RM UP-01, another design that further reduces thickness is the use of a newly designed escapement mechanism, which removes the limit nails of the escapement fork, and removes the balance double discs, so that the thickness of the escapement mechanism is reduced a little bit. That's how the world's number one comes from.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01 balance wheel and hairspring.

RICHARD MILLE RM UP-01's special escapement, note that it is like a straight escapement fork, very special.

Why, these super thin watches are all "sky-high"?

You can see from the above that when the mechanical watch is thinned to a certain level, it is necessary to change the traditional structure of the movement, redesign the movement structure, and redesign key components. It is also necessary to ensure the basic strength, shock absorption and waterproof of the watch. This leads to a significant increase in the complexity of the ultra-thin movement. It can be said that when you reach less than 2 mm and reduce 0.1 mm, you will have to pay a huge "price". This is why these super thin watches are all "sky-high". (Photo/Text Watch House Yantanping)