The Santos-Dumont was designed by Louis Cartier with a geometric form: rounded corners and harmoniously shaped joints that converged towards the strap. And so, it was in 1904 that Santos-Dumont would take flight with a watch on his wrist – but not a converted pocket watch, an actual wristwatch. Dumont was a playboy by nature, a pilot by trade, and he told his friend Cartier that he simply needed quicker access to his watch, which he was forced to pull out of his pocket mid-flight. But Cartier came into its own as an important watchmaker in 1904, when Louis Cartier was approached by his friend, famed aviator and bon vivant Albert Santos-Dumont. Just for comparison’s sake, that's just two years after Patek & Cie became Patek, Philippe, & Cie. Louis Cartier, the man behind much of this legendary mark’s earliest successes, had already made a name for himself as a jeweler in the late 1800s, and there are pocket watches shown in Cartier’s registry all the way back to 1853. But, before we get to this chronograph from Cartier today, it’s important to understand first why Cartier matters. The Calibre family, including the original Calibre de Cartier time-only (from 2010), the Calibre de Cartier Chronograph (2013) and the Calibre de Cartier Diver (last year) all use excellent manufacture movements, and in my opinion offer a ton of technical points in a package that is extremely well thought through. This watch, and the entire Calibre family, sits well above those ETA-powered Tanks and Roadsters that seemed to come in the mail with samples of Tide if you lived in the suburbs of any major coastal city. Today, I will be reviewing a watch that is part of Cartier’s in-house, but commercially oriented family: the Calibre de Cartier Chronograph.
They have tremendous resources, a world-class watchmaker at the helm, and arguably the greatest design DNA of any watchmaker around. But there is a reason that Cartier has been able to gain such a foothold with watch buyers of the 20th century, and there is a reason why I fully expect to own a Cartier timepiece within the next three years. Cartier is a veritable powerhouse brand, on par with and perhaps even surpassing the global reach of a brand like Rolex.
I it’s not like I’m comparing Cartier to someone like Laurent Ferrier, Roger Smith, or the Grönefelds (all three also deserving of more praise for what they do) because that would be foolish. Now I don’t want to pretend for a second that Cartier is deserving of any pity or sympathy. Cartier is an impressive company, and one that I think will be a true force in the high-end watchmaking world for years to come, and it’s about time people wake up to just what Cartier is doing. In fact, I would say that Cartier is one of three Richemont-owned watchmakers that are pushing things forward in a major way yet do not receive the mass approval of horological enthusiasts because of historical positioning (the other two being Piaget – just wait 'til you see what they plan to announce on December 5th – and Montblanc, who is slowly but surely converting more than a few purists). I’ll begin by saying this: Cartier deserves your respect.
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