Although its watchmaking history is a varied as any, for Cartier the Tank is the touchstone.
Along with the Santos, it created the notion of the modern wristwatch, and has, for a century, embodied elegant timekeeping.
Cartier is revisiting its past through the Tank and other new models addressing its classic offerings, all at once fresh yet familiar to any aficionado.
Cartier Privé Tank Normale
Joining the exclusive Cartier Privé collection this year is the latest interpretation of the Tank Normale.
As mentioned above, Cartier defined the wristwatch, this model acknowledging the achievement that was the creation of Louis Cartier in 1917, and which reached its first owners in 1919.
The sublime new hours and-minutes-only version employs the proportions and bevelled sapphire crystal of the original.
It will be available in yellow gold on a brown alligator strap and in platinum on a black alligator strap, both also offered with matching bracelets with satin and polished finishes.
Another addition to the Tank legend is a skeleton movement accompanied by a 24-hour complication, adorned with a sun and crescent moon, also skeletonised.
The minute hand completes its course in one hour, while the hour hand uses a day’s full 24 hours instead of the usual indication of 12 hours.
Thus daytime hours appear on the upper part of the dial, with night-time hours shown on the lower part.
Emphasising the transition from day to night are skeletonised bridges coated with a gradation of shades emphasising the two halves of the dial.
Limited to 50 numbered watches, the skeletonised Tank comes in yellow gold on a brown and green alligator strap with a blue sapphire cabochon on the winding crown and in platinum on a burgundy and grey alligator strap with a ruby cabochon.
Also available will be a version set with brilliant-cut diamonds completes, limited to 20 numbered pieces.
Cartier Tank Américaine
For some the most elegant timepiece ever created, the chic, elongated Tank Américaine launched in 1989 makes reference to the earlier Tank Cintrée, which originated its curved case.
The Tank Américaine watch introduced the first adjustable strap adapted to the famous folding buckle, itself patented by Cartier in 1910.
For In 2023, the original curved design of the watch acquires a finer, more acrobatic line. This is reinforced by the style of the dial and the integration of the brancards into the extension of the strap.
Inside is the new 1899 MC movement developed for slimmer cases. The Tank Américaine watch comes in all-gold and steel with a leather strap, rose gold and diamonds with a leather strap or diamond-paved white and rose gold with a metal bracelet.
Cartier Santos-Dumont
Cartier’s other pioneering model, the legendary Santos-Dumont watch, is also the recipient of a skeletonised movement.
The Cartier Manufacture is introducing in this venerable timepiece a specially-developed 9629 MC automatic skeleton calibre which is embraced by a form that was devised in 1904.
In gold or steel case, with distinctive visible screws, a beaded crown and blue cabochon, the newest Santos-Dumont now reveals every detail of its movement.
Prominent is its miniaturised functional oscillating weight in the shape of a replica of the Demoiselle, the trailblazing aircraft designed by the pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont in 1907.
Requiring the Cartier Manufacture at La Chaux-de-Fonds nearly two years to develop, this new micro-rotor calibre is comprised of 212 components.
Cartier Baignoire and Panthère
Beyond the Tank, Cartier has also revealed a modern take on the Baignoire, the oval original dating back to 1912, its progeny boasting new proportions.
Another icon, La Panthère De Cartier, has been renewed with a sculptural statement that celebrates Cartier’s jewellery-making expertise, exploiting hand-finishing, lacquered and polished spots, and setting.
It is topped with a sculptural panther head, employing three dimensions for nose, cheeks, eyes, and pointed ears.
In yellow or rose gold speckled with black lacquer with tsavorite eyes or in diamond-paved white gold with emerald eyes, it is the most visually-arresting Panthère to date.
