The World’s Slimmest Self-Winding Watch Is Essentially a Poker Chip on a Band

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the size and shape of a luxury watch.

Either A) “I want that thing to be so robust and garish that my watch-hand forearm is visibly larger than the other two months from now”; or B) “Please make it as svelte as possible, to the effect that I forget I’m wearing a watch at all.”

This is basically the Platonic ideal of the latter.

With a self-winding movement that’s just 2.23 millimeters thick, Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Automatic has claimed the title of the world’s thinnest movement, the Italian maker’s third world record in that category in four years. The movement was manufactured entirely in-house by Bulgari and has a platinum micro-rotor as well as a 60-hour power reserve in case of a winding problem, The Jewellery Editor reported.

Based on the coffering on the ceiling of the Basilica of Maxentius in the Roman Forum, Bulgari’s watchmakers “have quite literally whittled down the watch to the leanest expression possible while retaining its majestic architecture” with the new Octo timepieces, according to TJE. Its total depth — case included — checks in at a gossamer 5.15mm. 

The price is also — relatively, given the complexity of its movement — accessible: the wafer-thin ticker will run you north of $13,000. A pretty penny, to be sure, but still a few cents short most of the best watches that came out of Baselworld.

Buy your world-beater here.