Baselworld/SIHH

SJX
[Purist]
8540

• Show profile
• Show other posts

*** SIHH 2012: Cartier ***

As usual Cartier had the largest collection of all, with something for everyone. From the accessible luxury Tank Anglaise to the impressive, haute horlogerie new minute repeater.

The Tank Anglaise is the third major iteration of the Cartier Tank after the Tank Francaise and Tank Americaine. It is also the largest, with broad case flanks. It is a natural evolution of the Tank, since most of the current Tank models, like the bestselling Tank Francaise, are getting a bit small and feminine by modern standards.

A key element of the new Tank is the crown. It is hidden below a crown protector and unfortunately is a bit too fiddly. It is a sort of a double crown, pull out the thin inner crown with the sapphire cabochon for setting; the outer crown also serves the same function once the inner crown is pulled out.

For now the Tank Anglaise is only available in the three colours of gold with matching bracelets. It is too much metal in the large men’s version, especially since it is currently only available with a bracelet, but as a midsize or ladies watch it looks good. I imagine the future strap versions will work better in the larger sizes. And I’m sure steel models will be released eventually too.

The large model, using the 1904 MC automatic, is 47 mm by 36.2 mm and 9.82 mm thick.

The medium model has an ETA automatic calibre and is 39.2 mm by 29.8 mm.

And the smallest model is quartz and 30.2 mm by 22.7 mm.

Another new Tank is the classic Louis Cartier XL. Previously the Tank Louis Cartier was only available with quartz movements, now it has an ultra-thin Piaget calibre. The case is 40.4 mm by 33 mm and a mere 5.1 mm high, making this Cartier’s slimmest mechanical watch. This is available in white gold or rose gold, with the option of a diamond bezel.

The third new model is the limited edition Tank Folle. In the same vein as the Crash, the Tank Folle is in white gold with a diamond set case. Without diamonds this would actually make a nice masculine counterpart to the Crash. The movement is either a Frederic Piguet or JLC manual wind calibre. It’s limited to 200 pieces.

In the Fine Watchmaking collection Cartier presented several new pieces, with the highlights being the minute repeater and the clever annual calendar. I already covered them extensively over on the Cartier forum .

But in addition to the Fine Watchmaking models covered there, several other variants set with varying quantities of diamonds were launched as well.

And one new complication model for ladies is the tourbillon with bird motif. Last year saw this movement with a crocodile, which I didn’t like, but this enamel and jewelled bird is eye-catching.

 
An interesting new model that is part of Cartier’s unofficial entry level small complication range is the Rotonde de Cartier large date with second time zone. The case is 42 mm and it has a big date, dual time and day/night display. Based on the JLC developed 8000 MC movement, this was first seen in last year’s Pasha with the same functions. This is available only in rose gold and will be an unnumbered limited edition of 700 pieces.

Next are the Cartier d’Art watches. These demonstrate various artistic skills like enamelling and mosaic, usually depicting various animals. This year sees a new technique – flattened straw – used for the Rotonde de Cartier with koala motif.

It sounds silly but the straw dial is actually tremendous work. About 40 hours are required to make the koala dial, because the straw has to be split, hammered and cut before being assembled into the design. The result is a matte dial with muted colours that only reveals its details up close. The watch is 35 mm in white gold and is limited to 20 pieces.

A horse rendered in a mosaic of semi-precious stones like jasper and obsidian is the next in the Cartier d’Art collection. The dial is composed of 400 tiny pieces of stone, all cut and assembled by hand. This is in the Santos Dumont case, in white gold. It’s limited to 40 pieces and another 10 set with diamonds.

And then comes my favourite of the Cartier d’Art, the Rotonde de Cartier with tiger motif executed in email grisaille. This is a technique of enamelling that renders the subject in black, white and all the greys in between. The enameller starts with a plain black enamel dial before painting on additional layers for the design.

The tiger depicted is solemn and has gravitas. It is really striking and evocative. 100 of these will be made in white gold.

Much more whimsical is the Tortue with cockatoo in mother of pearl and enamel. The cockatoo’s body is comprised of bits of mother of pearl engraved to resemble feathers, while the beak, eyes and backdrop are enamel. This is a limited edition of 80 in white gold.

Also for the ladies is the Rotonde with ladybugs in plique-à-jour paillonne, a technique of enamel like stained glass. Though the enamelling technique is complex and rare, I don’t like the look of the watch. The resulting dial just doesn’t look sophisticated.

The last ladies watch is the Captive de Cartier with butterfly and flower in champleve enamel. This one is elegant, and I believe it is quartz.

Finally something for the Year of the Dragon (again). This Ronde is a limited edition of 100 pieces with an enamel dragon dial and a Piaget movement. The dial in maroon and black is too dark and consequently unattractive. A dragon motif should be brighter and more cheery.

Now for the jewellery watches. As is expected from a jeweller a mind-boggling number of jewellery watches were unveiled.

The animal themed watches are all beautiful, especially the delightful panda secret watch.

There are also the various standard cases like Ballon Bleu and Bagnoire, covered entirely in diamonds.

And then we have some of the more artistic jewellery watches. This Bagnoire Folle looks somewhat hypnotic but is appealing in its own way.

Last is the Temps Moderne de Cartier watch. I like the idea of this watch – the dial actually revolves very slowly, giving the impression the gears are turning. But the overall design isn’t quite as graceful as one would expect from Cartier.

Site Info.