Alberto Santos-Dumont: Photo by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The History of a Cult Classic
Make no mistake – while Cartier was and still is the ‘Jeweller of Kings, and The King of Jewellers’, you’d be remiss to overlook their role in watchmaking. Claiming the most coveted title in the history of any watch brand, Cartier is the purveyor of the first luxury wristwatch.
Man’s first wristwatch took flight in 1904 with renowned Brazilian pilot and adventurer, Alberto Santos-Dumont. The pilot found flying with a pocket watch to be an impractical, cumbersome task and turned to Louis Cartier for a timepiece he could use with minimal movement.
Enter the Santos-Dumont, an unconventional creation that cemented the foundation of the Cartier powerhouse. As watch enthusiasts would know – the rest was horological history.
The first Santos Dumont: Photo by A Blog To Watch
A precursor to the art deco movement, the Santos-Dumont was geometric in design with screws on both the bezel and bracelet, a rounded dial, and Roman numerals. A nod to modern machinery and the rivets on an aircraft, this watch dared to bare the one thing watchmakers hid: screws.
Fast forward to 1911, the Santos-Dumont goes commercial. The watch which came to take its name from its first legendary owner – a celebrity of the era, Santos-Dumont – has since become a legend in its own right.
This was only the beginning for Cartier.
Louis struck gold yet again with the Cartier Tank – one of the brand’s top timepieces that made wristwatches a 20th-century phenomenon. While out on the Western Front, he turned the titanic tanks of the WWI battlefields into a symbol of understated elegance that graced the wrists of the world’s greatest minds.
The Tank is one of the most recognisable watch designs of all time. Despite the indelible mark it has made on the watch-loving world’s collective consciousness, less than 6,000 were produced in the first 50 years of its existence. Today, some 100 years and countless variations later, the Tank is still instantly recognisable and a symbol of something quintessentially Cartier.
By the late ’60s, the three Cartier brothers had passed, their French customer base had been obliterated post-WWII, and not long after, the London and New York companies were sold off to investors. Cartier had to be restored to its former glory – urgently.
Alain-Dominique Perrin: Photo by Château Lagrézette
The man responsible for this was Alain-Dominique Perrin – a legend in the watch world at the reins of Cartier amidst the Quartz Crisis, and a global recession. The turbulence of the era meant Perrin had to part with convention in many ways.
Cartier was back in the game with the launch of an unlikely addition to the ostentatious brand – a Must de Cartier Tank that was relatively cheap compared to the previous models. To say this watch was a success would be an understatement.
Must de Cartier Tank 1977: Photo by Time + Tide
In true Cartier fashion, Perrin didn’t stop there. He relaunched the Santos with gold, as well as steel and gold versions. The result? One of the most iconic watches in history that flew off the shelves.
The Panthère and the Pasha followed soon after, and Cartier got it right on both counts.
Under the watchful eye of current CEO Cyrille Vigneron, Cartier continues to challenge convention, with watches that may look as if they are from the future, yet remain true to Cartier’s timeless design language.
I’ve always been a fan of the classics and Cartier is the quintessential expression of that philosophy. It is, ironically, timeless.