Just checked the 5711 is 8.5mm thick.
I have always been old-fashioned and liked ultra-thin movements, to me one of the heights of horological skill. I have recently been looking for an ultra-thin diver to counter the current trend for clumsy 47mm, 18mm thick vulgarities out there.
So I have taken a Zenith Elite Rainbow Diver in trade, all 9.5mm of it. Should pair well with my 10mm thick Nautilus.
What other ultra-thins do you have? Classing this as sub 10mm.
I used to have a couple of Soviet watches that used the Poljot 2209* manual movement that was only 3mm thick in the very common De Luxe case. Depending on the curvature of the acrylic they were about 7mm overall, and extremely light, weighing just 25g including the strap. Unfortunately the long lugs of the design never sat comfortably.
I now have a Glashutte of similar dimensions, with a 09-20 movement, which doesn't have central seconds, but does sit very nicely on my wrist.
I find it frustrating that history has seen off affordable slim movements like these. Last year, I had a CW "slimline", which had a 2801 movement; it felt positively chunky in comparison with these.
*Ranfft commented favourably on the design of the Poljot 2209: http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-...uswk&Luch_2209
This is my thinnest
8.5mm apparently
Andy
Wanted - Damasko DC57
This must be one of the thinnest... ?
Piaget Altiplano Automatic - 5.25mm
z
This might be of interest for people who prefer slim watches
http://www.watchtime.com/blog/7-reco...-thin-watches/
And this
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/ul...it-best-part-i
Wow that 1.64 is paper thin ?!?? How can these movements be superlative? There's nothing there but air !!!
I had a couple of skagens which I thought were slim but that's just weight watchers on cocaine
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I have a Juvenia that is quite thin
Last edited by Saint-Just; 3rd March 2017 at 23:25.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
I'm no great fan of slim movements for their own sake, but I do prefer slim watches that don't have that 'slab of metal on your wrist' feel.
Paul
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The movement is the calibre 1003 which is a very robust movement that has been used from 1955 until the present day in more than 850 VC models. I don't have access to my son's watch at present but here is a stock photograph (from the internet) of the calibre 1003:
Not surprisingly, some of the comments have queried how such a thin watch can be anything but brittle! Here is some technical detail on the calibre 1003 and how it manages to be thin and still reasonably robust (credit to Alex Ghotbi, Moderator of the VC Hour Lounge):
"The thinness of the watch could possibly lead to it being bent if it was tied too tightly to the wrist and therefore to prevent such damage, 2 screws higher than the others acted as safety to prevent the case from coming into contact with the movement. At a later date the movement was placed in an inner titanium cage to avoid any tension and prevent any possibility of the movement being bent.
It is interesting to note that with the original calibre 1003 of 1955 the engineers and watchmakers had decided to do without shock protection on the escape wheel as to maintain the thinnest execution possible; however in the early 1990's watchmaking techniques enabled the addition of shock protection without increasing the calibre's height.
To maintain limited thickness the pallet lever is on a lower level than the fork horn and as such the pivots and jewels are also on a lower level.
One surprising feature of the calibre 1003 is its large sized balance. Surprising, because a large balance uses more energy and slim calibres with the size of their mainspring barrels have shorter lasting power reserves and it would have been logical to have a smaller balance which uses less power however considering the difficulties of regulation of such a slim calibre the larger balance provides better accuracy.
Another modification as to keep the slimness of the calibre relates to the lack of impulse roller, the impulse jewel is placed directly into the balance arms."
That is fabulous and, at 33mm, perfectly proportioned.
I have a UG Golden Shadow; the calibre 66 was, at 2.3mm, the thinnest automatic movement from 1965 until 1978. It's a Genta design.
And here it is with a manual wind cousin and a White Shadow which was the thinnest quartz watch when it was released; the movement is a calibre 74.
Last edited by Carlton-Browne; 17th October 2017 at 14:05.
I'll confess I don't know for sure. It was my father's and I will have it serviced soon so we shall know. But I think you are correct.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
This at 7mm overall and only 3.05mm auto movement.