This century, the mechanical watch world has advanced greatly in terms of power reserves, magnetic resistance, and insanely complicated tourbillons. But arguably the horological domain with the most notable breakthroughs, since 2011 in particular, has been ultra-thin watches. Here we’ll give you a quick guide to the thinnest watch in each major category (spoiler alert: Bulgari dominates), and also provide a timeline of major thinness advancements.
To put things in perspective, in 2011, the slimmest automatic tourbillon watch in the world was 10.4mm thick. By 2018, Bulgari had smashed that record with a 3.95mm Octo Finissimo model. That also means an automatic tourbillon from 2018 was thinner than the thinnest mechanical watch, period, that existed in early 2013. Later in 2013, a 3.65mm time-only Piaget was blowing minds, but the leanest mechanical watch in the world today is less than half as thick! The current thinness champ is Bulgari’s 1.7mm Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC. Let’s take a look at all the major current record holders.
Thinnest Watches in the World by Category
| Category | Thickness | Watch | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thinnest Quartz Watch | 0.98mm | Delirium IV (unwearably delicate) | 1980 |
| Thinnest Mechanical Watch | 1.70mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC | 2024 |
| Thinnest Tourbillon | 2.00 mm | Piaget Altiplano Concept Tourbillon | 2024 |
| Thinnest Automatic Watch (And Thinnest Automatic Tourbillon) | 3.95mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic | 2017 |
| Thinnest Minute Repeater | 6.85mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater | 2016 |
| Thinnest Chronograph (and Thinnest GMT) | 6.90mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT | 2019 |
| Thinnest Perpetual Calendar | 5.80mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar | 2021 |
| Thinnest Dive Watch Rated to 200m | 6.80mm | NOVE Trident E001-02 (Quartz) | 2019 |
| Thinnest Tourbillon Chronograph | 7.40mm | Bulgari Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Skeleton Chronograph | 2020 |
| Thinnest Minute Repeater Tourbillon | 7.90mm | Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon | 2013 |
| Thinnest Flyback Chronograph | 8.24mm | Piaget Ultra-Thin Chronograph | 2014 |
| Thinnest Split-Seconds Chronograph (Rattrapante) | 8.45mm | Patek Philippe 5959 Split-Seconds Chronograph | 2005 |
| Thinnest Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater | 10.44mm | Vacheron Constantin Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar | 2019 |
Thinnest Watches: The Key Players
While Bulgari and Piaget are the most dominant players in the ultra-slim luxury watch game, they’re far from the only ones playing it. Their achievements are even more impressive when you consider the brands they’re competing with. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra-Thin Jubilee only held the title of “thinnest mechanical watch” for a few months in 2013 before Piaget took it. Audemars Piguet released the thinnest perpetual calendar in the world in 2019 at 6.3mm, while Richard Mille’s 1.75mm-thick UP-01 FERRARI set the overall record for mechanicals in 2022. In both cases, Bulgari broke the record within about two years. Bulgari unveiled the current thinnest mechanical watch in the world just before Watches and Wonders 2024, the Octo Finissimo Ultra Thin COSC, measuring just 1.70mm high.
Arguably just as impressive as Bulgari’s 1.7mm time-only Ultra COSC model is Piaget’s 2.0mm tourbillon watch, the Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon. 2.0mm thick, with a tourbillon! That would’ve been completely unthinkable not long ago. Ultra-slim mechanical watches are almost all quite expensive, but Nomos certainly deserves some credit for being the first brand to make an automatic watch with a full-size rotor under 7mm thick–and for under $5,000, no less. Their Neomatik movement, released in 2015, is only 3.2mm thick. Impressive, but we should keep in mind that the microrotor-equipped automatic Piaget 12P movement was only 2.3mm…in 1960.
Piaget was the original king of the thin watch game, having made a 2.0mm-thick manual-wind movement in 1957. That record stood until 1976, when Jean Lassale released their innovative 1.2mm Caliber 1200. But Jean Lassale went bankrupt like most luxury wristwatch brands of that era, and ultra-thin watchmaking didn’t become a major industry focus again until the 2010’s.
Notably, Vacheron Constantin holds the record for both thinnest minute repeater perpetual calendar, while Patek Philippe makes the thinnest split-seconds chronograph. Admittedly, there aren’t a ton of brands making those complications to begin with. So many records have been broken and re-broken in recent years that it can be hard to keep them straight, so we’ve made a timeline.
Timeline: World Records (2011-Present)
| Year | Brand | Model | Category | Thickness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Piaget | Emperador Coussin Tourbillon Automatic Ultra-Thin | Thinnest automatic tourbillon | 10.4mm |
| 2011 | Piaget | Altiplano | Thinnest automatic watch | 5.25mm |
| 2013 | Jaeger-LeCoultre | Master Ultra-Thin Jubilee | Thinnest mechanical watch | 4.05mm |
| 2013 | Piaget | Altiplano Ultimate 900P | Thinnest mechanical watch | 3.65mm |
| 2014 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Tourbillon | Thinnest tourbillon | 5.00mm |
| 2014 | Jaeger-LeCoultre | Master Ultra Thin Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon | Thinnest minute repeater tourbillon | 7.90mm |
| 2014 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Tourbillon | Thinnest tourbillon | 5.00mm |
| 2014 | Piaget | Ultra-Thin Chronograph | Thinnest chronograph | 8.24mm |
| 2015 | Jaeger-LeCoultre | Master Ultra Thin Squelette | Thinnest mechanical watch | 3.60mm |
| 2015 | Nomos | Tangente Neomatik | Thinnest full-rotor automatic watch | 6.90mm |
| 2016 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Minute Repeater | Thinnest minute repeater | 6.85mm |
| 2017 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Automatic | Thinnest automatic watch | 5.15mm |
| 2017 | Piaget | Altiplano Ultimate Automatic 910P | Thinnest automatic watch | 4.30mm |
| 2018 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic | Thinnest automatic watch, thinnest automatic tourbillon | 3.95mm |
| 2018 | Piaget | Altiplano Ultimate Concept | Thinnest mechanical watch | 2.00mm |
| 2019 | Vacheron Constantin | Les Cabinotiers Minute Repeater Perpetual Calendar | Thinnest perpetual calendar | 8.10mm |
| 2019 | Audemars Piguet | Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar Ultra Thin | Thinnest perpetual calendar | 6.30mm |
| 2021 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Perpetual Calendar | Thinnest perpetual calendar | 5.80mm |
| 2022 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Ultra | Thinnest mechanical watch | 1.80mm |
| 2022 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT | Thinnest chronograph, thinnest GMT | 5.80mm |
| 2022 | Richard Mille | RM UP-01 | Thinnest mechanical watch | 1.75mm |
| 2024 | Bulgari | Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC | Thinnest mechanical watch | 1.80mm |
| 2024 | Piaget | Altiplano Ultimate Concept Tourbillon | Thinnest tourbillon | 2.00mm |
How Many World Records Does Bulgari Have?
Bulgari currently holds the world record for thinness in nine key categories, held by six different Octo Finissimo models (when you see two records for the same year, that’s the same watch):
- Thinnest minute repeater (2016)
- Thinnest automatic (2017)
- Thinnest automatic tourbillon (2017)
- Thinnest chronograph (2019)
- Thinnest GMT (2019)
- Thinnest tourbillon chronograph (2020)
- Thinnest perpetual calendar (2021)
- Thinnest mechanical (2024)
- Thinnest chronometer (2024)
It will be interesting to see if JLC, Richard Mille and AP try to recapture any of their records, or if Piaget and Bulgari will go for even more. The way the luxury watch industry has been going, I expect I’ll need to update this article regularly.
More about the brands in this article:
Bulgari Watch Price Guide
Five of The Best Piaget Watches
Understanding Richard Mille Rafael Nadal Watches
Jaeger LeCoultre Introduces New Duometre Line at Watches and Wonders 2024
All About the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver
