Abstract: The invention relates to a system for determining the current thickness of changing coatings of a material on a substrate, using an electrically excitable, mechanically vibratable element (2) having at least one pronounced resonant frequency, which is excited to a steady vibration by an oscillator circuit (1) at a resonant frequency, and which is covered by the material in the same manner as the substrate. A signal (U.sub.D) is produced which depends on the damping caused by the coating of the vibratable element (2). This signal (U.sub.D) is compared with a known critical value signal (U.sub.DE) whereby it is possible to indicate when the vibratable element (2), which can be coated with the material only to a certain degree, must be replaced with a new vibratable element (FIG. 2).