He was a pioneer of the wristwatch with a shaped case – Louis Fake Cartier. While pocket watches were exclusively round until the beginning of the 20th century, the designer designed luxury watches for the wrist in new geometric shapes. His designs have endured to this day and can be admired in models such as the Cartier Santos, Tank, and Tonneau. The Cartier Drive line is also based on them.
Cartier Tank and Cartier Tortue
That was not all for the equally resourceful and creative watchmaker. In 1917, the successful jeweler designed a second Cartier prestige object, the Cartier Tank, based on English battle tanks. It has also been on the market in more or less unchanged form for over 100 years.
Not quite as successful, but designed with the same Cartier DNA, are the non-round Cartier models Cartier Tonneau and the Cartier Tortue, launched in 1913. The Cartier watches “Crash”, “Ellipse”, “Gondole”, “Square” and “Cousin” are also immediately associated with the traditional manufacturer by connoisseurs. However, they were unable to achieve comparable market recognition.
Cartier Drive
Speaking of vintage cars: Cartier watches have always been popular with motorists due to their practical shape and the fact that they can be worn on the wrist. The flat, cushion-shaped and angular watch cases were particularly practical and popular.
This fact is taken up by another non-round new creation from 2016: the Cartier Drive wristwatch. Its cushion-shaped case and elegant, sporty look were intended to make the name Cartier more attractive and popular among men. Outside of the French market, Cartier has a lot of catching up to do. At the beginning of the new model era, Cartier launched 3 Cartier Drive versions. The cases were available in steel or 18-carat red gold.
Cartier Drive watches
The steel Cartier Drive with the in-house caliber 1904-PS MC makes it possible to get started. The movement measures 25.6 millimeters in diameter. There is also a window date, small second, rotor winding and two barrels with around 48 hours of autonomy. The height is four millimeters. A specimen of the microcosm ticking at four hertz requires 186 components. The case of the simple Cartier Drive de Cartier, as it is officially called, measures 40 x 41 millimeters. On the wrist, the watch is 11.25 millimeters. The watch is not suitable for diving, but the Cartier Drive can withstand the wet element, i.e. intentional/unintentional contact with water, up to three bar pressure.
Cartier Drive Tourbillon
At the top of the still manageable collection is a “flying” tourbillon with the caliber 9452 MC. This was designed by sister company Roger Dubuis 09.
The diameter of the hand-wound movement with approx. 50 hours of power reserve is 24.9 millimeters. The total height including the rotating mechanism is 5.45 millimeters. The watchmakers at Cartier put together the microcosm from 142 components. The balance wheel completes 21,600 semi-oscillations every hour in its small cage, which corresponds to a frequency of three hertz.
