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THE WORLD OF FINE WATCHES
SPOTLIGHT
www.watchtime.com
THE MILESTONE
WATCHES OF
CARTIER
PRESENTED BY
WATCHTIME
MAGAZINE
CARTIER
To those who love
fine jewelry, the
name Cartier has
always represented luxury and the
beautiful things in
life. But there’s
more to this brand
than jewelry. As a
maker of wristwatches, Cartier
has been innovative in its designs
and technology
for well over a
century. Here we
visit 23 of its most
important accomplishments as a
watch brand.
CARTIER:
Stages of a colorful history
(clockwise): the firm’s
founder, Louis-François
Cartier (1819–1904);
Alberto Santos-Dumont,
Cartier’s first wristwatch
customer; Cartier cigarette
lighter; an advertisement
from 1988; Cartier’s store
in London in 1909; the
manufacture caliber from
the first central chronograph (2009); Cartier rings;
a modern winding rotor
manufactured by Cartier
By GisBert L. Brunner
The Milestones
MILESTONES
Cartier
1904/1911
1913/1928
TORTUE
SANTOS
JEWELER LOUIS CARTIER (1875–
1942) was a perfectionist designer. When
he stylistically emancipated the wristwatch at the beginning of the 20th century, this type of timepiece was still struggling to establish its right to exist. In this
era of pocketwatches, many people, especially men, were simply not interested in
wearing watches on their wrists. But exceptions prove the rule, and one such exception was Alberto Santos-Dumont.
Born in 1873, this Brazilian bon vivant
and his homemade flying machines were
the toast of Parisian high society. In 1904,
the pioneering aviator complained to his
friend Cartier that it wasn’t practical for a
pilot to consult a pocketwatch while flying
an airplane, and told him he believed he
could set new aviation records if a solution
to this problem could be found. That same
year, Cartier strapped a new timepiece
around Santos-Dumont’s wrist. Two years
later, the daredevil pilot, in his motorized
“14-bis” aircraft, set new distance records
while wearing this square-cased watch
with integrated strap lugs. It didn’t take
long before other high-society types also
wanted to wear “Santos” models on their
wrists. A savvy businessman, Cartier began making a small number of Santos
watches for privileged purchasers in 1908;
serial production followed in 1911.
CARTIER UNVEILED the logical extension of the Tonneau in 1913. Unlike its
elongated predecessor, this new model had
a more compact shape and could accommodate round movements with larger diameters. The new watch was appropriately christened the “Tortue” because it reminded people of a tortoise. Like the Santos, it had integrated strap lugs that cleverly extended the case’s arcing flanks. Starting in 1928, Cartier equipped this watch
with an ultra-slim monopusher chronograph movement: LeCoultre, the ébauche
specialist, had premiered its 11-ligne
ébauche 11 JCCV one year previously in
1927. The European Watch and Clock
Co. delivered the completely assembled
movement. Automaker Edsel Ford was
among the many wearers of this innovative chronograph.
1906
TONNEAU
AT THE BEGINNING of the 20th century, wristwatches began differentiating
themselves from pocketwatches by bidding adieu to traditional round cases.
Fashion-oriented women, to whom the
wristwatch owes its genesis, were becoming bored with round timepieces. Recognizing the tremendous potential, Cartier
in 1906 presented a barrel-shaped watch
and called it the “Tonneau,” French for
barrel. Thanks to its cleverly designed
curvature, the case conformed to the contours of its wearer’s wrist. The model pictured dates from 1907.
1917/1919
TANK
LOUIS CARTIER MADE another important contribution to the rise of the wristwatch during World War I. His design
concept was sparked by the modern combat tanks that English troops deployed in
the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Cartier
was so impressed by their martial appearance that he used it as the template for a
wristwatch, released in 1917, with a rectangular case and elongated flanks. Edmond Jaeger contributed to its creation.
The following year, to express his gratitude for the liberation of France, Cartier
gave the first few of these watches to General John Joseph Pershing, supreme commander of American troops in France, and
to other high-ranking officers in the U.S.
Army. These military men could take
pleasure in the exclusivity of their new
wristwatches for only one year, however,
because serial production of the Tank began in 1919.
MILESTONES
Cartier
1921
1922
TANK
CINTRÉE
CLOCHE
UNVEILED IN 1922 and repeatedly
modified in ensuing years, the Cloche
attracted particular attention thanks to
its asymmetric case, which was shaped
like a church bell. The Cloche (French
for “bell”) was usually made only by
special request. Two versions were
available: the case of the first version
was connected to its upper strap by a
THANKS IN PART TO Louis Cartier’s
contributions, the wristwatch grew in
popularity. Between 1906 and 1918 alone,
his store on Rue de la Paix in Paris sold almost as many wristwatches as all other
timekeepers combined: customers bought
2,789 wristwatches, compared to 3,119
pendant and brooch watches, pocketwatches and table clocks. The unconventional Tank was one of the best sellers, and
Cartier created a new evolution of this
model in the early 1920s: he stretched the
square case into an elongated rectangle
and gave it an attractive and practical curvature so that the watch, despite its overall
length of more than 45 mm, was very
comfortable to wear. The narrowness of
the case imposed strict limits on the dimensions of its hand-wound movement,
which was supplied by the European
Watch and Clock Co. The dancer and actor Fred Astaire famously numbered
among the wearers of the Tank Cintrée.
1928
TANK À
GUICHETS
1922
TANK CHINOISE
JUST ONE YEAR after the debut of the
Tank Cintrée, Cartier launched the next
version of his rectangular watch. To accentuate the square shape of the original
model, the two horizontal bars above and
below the dial were lengthened to extend
beyond the case’s flanks. This design element called to mind the portals of Chinese
temples, so the new model – which contained a 9-ligne, hand-wound movement –
was given the name “Tank Chinoise” soon
afterward.
FOR CENTURIES, time displays had a
universal design: hands rotating above a
fixed dial. Eventually, innovative watchmakers invented timepieces that indicated
the hours and minutes digitally, via printed
disks rotating beneath windows in the dial. The fronts of these watches’ cases could
now be made almost entirely of metal, so
watchmakers could dispense with the
large, flat and shatter-prone glass crystals.
The small apertures were also made of
glass, but small enough to withstand the
hard knocks they’d encounter during vigorous sports. Cartier released the Tank à
Guichets in 1928. This rectangular watch
was aimed primarily at customers who
regularly subjected their wristwatches to
rough treatment, so Cartier positioned the
vulnerable crown between the two upper
strap lugs, where it was best protected
against impacts. The model shown here
was sold to Sir Bhupinder Singh, the maharaja of the former Indian principality of
Patiala.
single lug at 12 o’clock and surrounded
a conventional dial; in the second version, the case and dial were turned 90
percent to the right. When the latter
model was taken off the wrist, it could
stand by itself, with one flat flank
downward, atop a desk or nightstand.
The version shown here, with vertically
oriented case, was built in 1925.
MILESTONES
Cartier
1931
1943/1985
WATER-RESISTANT
WATCHES
PASHA
NEEDLESS TO SAY, water resistance was
an important topic at Cartier in the late
1920s and early ’30s, when society’s upper
crust vacationed at the Côte d’Azur and
other seaside spots. Rolex made its mark in
this area in 1926, when patent protection
was granted to its water-resistant Oyster
case. In 1931, Cartier and its watchmaking
partner Jaeger set out to create a rectangular watch case with a similar level of waterresistance. It was much more difficult, of
course, to develop an insulating system
that would prevent water from penetrating
at the sharp corners of a non-circular case.
To fully protect the movement, models like
this baguette watch from 1931 were given
an additional locking system for the manual-winding components. One particularly
prestigious customer who ordered a timepiece of this type from Cartier in the mid1930s was the Pasha of Marrakesh, who
wanted a wristwatch that he wouldn’t
need to remove before taking a dip in his
swimming pool.
1922
TANK BASCULANTE
DURING THE ROARING TWENTIES,
the active lifestyles of Cartier’s deep-pocketed clientele posed enormous challenges
for the brand. Shattered crystals, broken
dials, and hands that fell off their staffs
were common problems. In 1926, Cartier
applied for a patent to protect the intellectual property of its case-cum-bracelet construction in which the crystal spent most
of its life facing safely toward the wrist,
but could also be briefly pivoted into full
view whenever the wearer wanted to read
the time. The system was simple but not
entirely practical, so Cartier and his experienced partner Jaeger went back to the
drawing board. Spécialité Horlogères SA
was granted a patent in 1932 for a case
construction with a clever tilting mechanism, which was incorporated into a
watch called the “Tank Basculante” (“bas-
CARTIER STARTED OFFERING watches with water-resistant cases in the 1930s,
but their insulating systems were so complex that the protection they offered lasted
only a relatively short time. Although
Louis Cartier died in 1942, his namesake
brand continued to strive for technical innovation and design evolution. Realizing
that it was easier to ensure and sustain water-reistance in a round case, Cartier
launched a round, gold model with central
strap lugs and a screwed back in 1943.
The crown had a protective locking mechanism that could be screwed shut after the
owner had used the crown to wind the
watch or set its hands. To prevent the loss
of this protective cap, a small chain kept it
safely attached to the case. The crystal was
covered with a grille that resembled those
on military wristwatches from the World
War I era. Incidentally, the claim that this
watch was created to fill an order placed
by the Pasha of Marrakesh is nothing
more than an oft-repeated fairytale. Not
until 1985, when Cartier began serial
manufacturing of this model, was it given
this name, though the Pasha was among
Cartier’s foremost aficionados in his day.
1960s/1986/1991
CRASH
culante” is French for “rocking”). The
new system let the watch’s wearer rotate
the case through 180 degrees, thus quickly
putting the watch’s covered dial against
the wrist and out of harm’s way when, for
example, its wearer played a round of golf.
ANOTHER LEGEND SURROUNDS the
creation of Cartier’s “Crash” model,
which has a case that looks as though it
had been smashed in a serious automobile accident. Although its bizarre appearance prompted would-be connoisseurs to nickname it the “Dalí,” the
Spanish surrealist painter (one of whose
most famous works depicted limp, misshaped and “melting” watches) had
nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of this wristwatch. Cartier produced only 15 pieces of the Crash in the
1960s. A second edition was added in the
1980s, followed by a limited edition of
400 gold watches in 1991.
MILESTONES
Cartier
1973/1976
2002
LES MUST DE CARTIER
TORTUE
MONOPOUSSOIR
CARTIER’S WATCH division was hit
hard when the brand split into three
houses (Paris, London and New York). A
small revolution was the only solution.
When Alain-Dominique Perrin joined
Cartier Paris in 1969, he and then-president Robert Hocq set out to revitalize the
business. In 1973, Perrin presented the
“Les Must de Cartier” concept, which
was intended to take into account the ongoing societal upheaval and the resulting
change in the public’s attitude toward
luxury goods. Twelve different watch
models, initially available only in solid
gold cases, were sold only in Cartier’s
“Must” boutiques and at selected jewelry stores. The new concept was successful and Perrin was promoted to the post
of Must’s CEO in 1973. Meanwhile,
Cartier’s U.S. subsidiary had since 1971
been selling a less expensive, gold-plated
version of the Tank for $150 via a network of somewhat dubious dealers. This
tarnished the brand’s image, which was
further harmed in 1976 by the sudden
appearance of large numbers of counterfeits. When the New York subsidiary rejoined the Cartier family, Perrin put a
stop to the questionable practice, but
wasn’t willing to abandon Cartier’s
flourishing business in America. His solution was the new Tank Must de Cartier, a watch with a gold-plated silver case,
manufactured in two different sizes and
selling for the relatively low price of
$500. The watch was a huge success.
AS LATE AS 1998, Alain-Dominique Perrin, who had since been promoted to president of Cartier, was still focusing more on
his watches’ external design than on their
movements. This began to change in 2002
with Cartier’s re-release of the Tortue
monopusher. First unveiled in 1928, this
historical chronograph had become a collectors’ item. For its 21st-century re-issue,
Cartier did not settle for a run-of-the-mill
2003
ROADSTER
CHRONOGRAPH
1978
SANTOS SPORT
TO FOLLOW UP the success of the Tank
Must de Cartier, Robert Hocq and AlainDominique Perrin began developing another new model that would meld Cartier’s easily recognizable design with a
soupçon of sportiness. They found the
ideal candidate in the Santos. Until that
point, that model had been available only in precious-metal cases. But Cartier’s
new philosophy of affordable luxury inspired a strategic rethinking. The first
Santos Sport featured a steel case and
bracelet, a golden bezel, and an eye-catching design highlighted by the prominently
slit heads of numerous screws. This
watch, with its automatic movement, was
a hit, and soon distinguished itself as one
the world’s most popular luxury wristwatches. This model’s design, and its interesting history, prompted the Musée de
l’Air et de l’Espace in Paris to put the
watch on display.
CARTIER DECIDED to launch a sporty
version of the Tortue in 2001. With a
date magnifier that extended over the
crown, the first Roadster wed tradition
with modernity. Cartier followed it up
with the release of a chronograph version
in 2003. The watch was equipped with
an ETA automatic movement and three
interchangeable wristbands: a steel
bracelet, a calfskin strap, and a sailcloth
strap. As one would expect of a watch inspired by motorsports, its dial is
equipped with a tachymeter scale that
works with the elapsed-seconds hand to
enable its wearer to quickly calculate average speeds.
mechanical movement. Lacking its own
developmental capabilities, the brand
turned to the specialists at Techniques
Horlogèrs Appliquées SA (THA) in
Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, who designed
a column-wheel caliber that was a mere
3.8 mm thick. Like its predecessor from
LeCoultre in 1928, hand-wound Caliber
045 has a diameter of 24.8 mm. Cartier
holds all legal rights to it.
MILESTONES
Cartier
2004
2008
SANTOS 100
SANTOS
TRIPLE 100
IN 1904, when Louis Cartier presented the
Santos as the first watch conceived specifically for the wrist, large wristwatches, like
those of today, were nearly a century in the
future. Small, fine, and, above all, elegant
were the watch words. Cartier manufactured only about 800 pieces of the Santos
up through 1973. But the number of units
began a steady climb starting in 1978. To
celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Santos, Cartier unveiled the impossible-tooverlook Santos 100, with its generous dimensions of 42 by 51 millimeters, strap
lugs included. The movement is the reliable ETA 2892, which is produced in large
series. The case is made of steel or gold or
a combination of both metals.
CARTIER HAS ALWAYS given ample attention to its watch dials; after all, the dial
a customer chooses is the one he or she
will have to live with for life, right? Not in
the case of the Santos Triple 100, introduced in 2008. This watch’s appeal derives
not only from its white-gold case, adorned
with numerous gemstones, but also from
its unusual trilogy of dials. Thanks to
moveable prisms, a simple turn of the
crown is all it takes to change from the
classical Cartier look with Roman numerals, to a second dial totally encrusted with
diamonds and sapphires, to a third dial
with a portrait of a tiger. Another Santos
100 in a somewhat less glamorous triple
version debuted soon afterward. It invites
its owner to choose between a black dial, a
white dial, or a view into the skeletonized
manufacture Caliber 9611 MC. In this instance, the case is made of palladium.
2007
BALLON
BLEU DE
CARTIER
CARTIER HAS always been known for
its watches with nontraditional (i.e., not
round) cases, but the brand introduced
its own distinctive take on the round
watch with the introduction of the Ballon Bleu in 2007. Bernard Fornas, president of Cartier until 2012, called the Ballon Bleu his brand’s most successful
watch, and said he regarded it as an iconic model on a par with the Santos and the
Tank. Like many other timepieces in
Cartier’s history, the Ballon Bleu is considered a unisex model. However, 70 percent of all Ballon Bleu watches are worn
by women.
2009
ROTONDE CENTRAL
CHRONOGRAPH
WITH THE ROTONDE de Cartier Central Chronograph, Cartier’s designers
and watchmakers found a way to solve a
problem that besets conventional
chronographs: namely, a chronograph’s
legibility is less than ideal because its
hands sometimes overlap one another.
On this watch, the hands that indicate
the time never obscure the chronograph
hands because the displays are positioned on different levels. The lowest lev-
el is exclusively for the hours and minutes; the middle is reserved for the
elapsed chronograph minutes, which are
digitally indicated on a disk; and the top
level displays only the blue chronograph
seconds hand. All this is made possible
by Cartier’s in-house column-wheel Caliber 9907 MC, which is 25.6 mm in diameter, 7.1 mm thick, manually wound,
and equipped with an energy-saving friction coupling.
MILESTONES
Cartier
2010
2011
ROTONDE
ASTROTOURBILLON
ROTONDE ASTRORÉGULATEUR
THE ROTONDE de Cartier Astrotourbillon was one of the brand’s highlights of
2010. Its hand-wound movement runs
for 48 hours without re-winding. Caliber
9451 MC is 38 mm in diameter and 9
mm thick. The balance oscillates at a
steady pace of 3 Hz while simultaneously completing one orbit around the dial
every minute, thus serving as a seconds
hand. In this way, the unconventional
tourbillon does double duty. Five years
were invested in the developmental
work. The Rotonde’s gold case is 47 mm
in diameter.
2010
CALIBRE DE CARTIER
TO MAKE ITS MARK in the
competitive men’s watch
market, Cartier needed a
wristwatch with a boldly masculine touch. And that is precisely what the brand presented in
2010 when it unveiled the Calibre de
Cartier at the SIHH in Geneva. To ensure the watch had no connection to
femininity,
Cartier
then-president
Bernard Fornas issued an executive order instructing the saleswomen at Cartier’s approximately 300 boutiques
around the globe never to wear this
watch while serving customers; only
male sales staff could wear the Calibre
while at work. The exclusive, automatic
Caliber 1904 PS MC indicates the seconds on a subdial and the date in a designated window. Two barrels combine
to provide about 48 hours of power reserve. Cartier hoped that this powerful
movement would attract potential male
customers to buy their first Cartier
watch. The Calibre de Cartier collection
has since expanded, with new models
that have included a tourbillon and a
chronograph.
THE MOST IMPRESSIVE features of
this watch are ensconced inside its 50mm-diameter case, which is light in
weight but high in performance because
it’s crafted from an alloy of titanium and
niobium. Four patents protect the mechanism, which is not a tourbillon but nevertheless compensates for the effects of
gravity on the movement. The fruit of
five years of development, its oscillating
and escapement system, which is inherently susceptible to positional changes, is
borne atop a rotor with a heavy platinum
segment. Because of its heavy weight, the
rotor always falls toward the Earth’s center, so fine adjustment in the hanging position was required only in one position
rather than in the usual four. The technical effort that resulted in this solution
was significant. An intelligent system
with two differential gear-trains compensates for the relative velocities generated
by the to-and-fro motions of the escapement assembly. The bipartite scale for
the seconds also moves along with the
rest of the assembly so the two-armed
seconds hand will always indicate the
correct time. The twin mainsprings receive energy from the rotor in both its directions of rotation. After these springs
are fully wound, the watch will continue
to run for approximately 80 hours. The
entire movement requires about five
times as many components as a classical
tourbillon.