What Makes a Cartier Watch?

More than any other, Louis Cartier of this famous family and design house was responsible for the popularity of the wrist watch over the pocket watch, more commonly carried by men of the day. The first known wrist watch was developed by Patek Phillippe in 1868, it was not until 1904 that Cartier stepped into the field. A friend of Cartier, Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont, who happened to be an aviator, asked that Cartier develop a watch for him which would be more suitable for use during his participation in early airplanea flights. Pocket watches definitely wouldn't work, partly because of the difficulty in reaching them when both hands were busy operating the controls of the airplane, and partly because of the tendency to be dropped and broken. The wristwatch that was created was the Santos. It was also the first wristwatch created for men. It didn't actually go into production until 1911, and contained movements by Edmond Jaeger.

Cartier is also responsible for the first water resistant wristwatch which was welcomed by the aviator and anyone working outdoors. The popularity of the Cartier name and its reputation for quality helped to lift their wristwatches to the premier position in the production and marketing of the watches. By 1912, two more wristwatches in the Cartier line, the Baignoire and Tortue which are still in production today were followed in 1917 by the Tank. The Cartier Baignoire, the Cartier Panthére issued in 1983, the Pasha de Cartier in 1985, and the Tank Française in 1996. Cartier's Privée Collection is another more recent entrant into the world of quality, performance and elegance in the wristwatch. During this period, the feature that marks a Cartier watch as an original was added. A four digit code is stamped on the lug. The prestige of Cartier watches is unarguable. Their decorative and useful designs combined with the finest Swiss-made watch movements such as Vacheron Constantin and Movado makes these timepieces not only beautiful bAut precise. The company today maintains the best known of the classical watches which have been reissued such as the Pasha, the Santos 100 and the Roadster. The best known lines of watches from Cartier include the Cartier Tank collection, the Pasha de Cartier line, Santos de Cartier, and the Ligne 21 de Cartier. The watches which bear the name Cartier are made of platinum, three colors of gold, including white, rose and yellow, Gold/steel, steel and titanium. The cases are decorated with various kinds of precious stones. The watch movements are the best from the Swiss watchmakers and quartz, mechanical, automatic winding mechanical, and manual winding mechanical. Because of their reputation for elegance, dependability and quality, Cartier wristwatches have long been a target for replica watches made to capitalize on the value and reputation of a Cartier. For people who want the look of a Cartier but the price of an ordinary wristwatch, many of the replicas resemble the original quite closely. Some replicas even make the claim to be indistinguishable in weight from the originals.