The many faces of Cartier watches
Cartier’s innovative spirit is exemplified by its array of ground-breaking watch shapes, cementing its status as a design trailblazer.
Since the early 1900s, Cartier has long been the arbiter of form. Eschewing convention, it drew inspiration from the most unexpected everyday objects or living things, like the turtle, bell, bathtub, cushion, or pebble. Led by Louis Cartier, whose creative genius could transform the mundane to the magnificent, the house's mastery of shapes became the cornerstone of its distinctive aesthetic.
But Cartier's prowess extends beyond disrupting codes and rewriting the rules; it is a testament to its incredible knack for marrying elegant lines with precise proportions and meticulous details. The result? Timepieces that transcend both trends and time. Here, we present nine Cartier watch designs that have indelibly marked the brand's watchmaking legacy.
TANK
First introduced in 1917, the Tank was designed by Louis Cartier, who drew inspiration from the Renault Tank used by the French military during World War I. Modern and elegant, its design flaunted a square face and an integrated strap held in between two straight parallel brancards or vertical bars, which recalled the armoured vehicle’s silhouette as seen from above. Marking a major shift from the traditional round watch, the Tank’s revolutionary clean and minimalist design was a breath of fresh air at the time.
The Tank soon became a true icon of luxury and elegance, and over the decades, many iterations were launched, including the Tank Must, Tank Francaise and Tank Solo, among others. One of the most interesting incarnations was the Tank Asymetrique. When it appeared in 1936, the watch defied the established order of things. Everything on the dial was shifted 30 degrees to the right. The rectangle of the original Tank became a diamond, with the 12 placed in the case’s upper right corner and the 6 on the opposite. In place of Roman numerals were Arabic numerals in even digits, all separated by indexes. The watch’s torsion effect was so unique that a specific strap had to be created for the watch. In 2020, the chic Tank Asymetrique made a comeback as the fourth watch in the Cartier Prive collection. Available in platinum, yellow and pink gold, the new model boasted a refined volume with the Manufacture 1917 MC movement, redesigned Arabic numerals and indexes. Of course, in true Cartier style, a skeleton version was introduced as well.
Another worthy mention is the Tank Americaine. Introduced in 1988, it became a powerful symbol of modern times with its curved case and generous lines. Re-imagined in 2023, its updated slimmer guise makes it more ergonomic and stylish than ever.
The Tonneau was launched in 1906, two years after the first men’s wristwatch, the Cartier Santos. It was a completely innovative shape at the time, with an elongated lozenge case with flat edges at the top and bottom. A watch for the stylished gentleman, it signalled the bold, geometric aesthetics of the Art Deco-era that would soon follow. However, its shape is often mistaken for the Tortue, which is distinguished by a shorter, thicker case as compared to the Tonneau’s longer, more slender lines. Extremely sought after by true watch connoisseurs, the Tonneau has been reinterpreted in different variations.
TORTUE
Bearing the shape of tortue a pattes (French for turtle on legs), the Tortue was created in 1912 by the maison’s pioneering designer (and founder Louis-Francois Cartier’s grandson) Louis Cartier. Since most watch cases at the time were round, the ground-breaking design was well-received and quickly became popular. In the 1920s, a variant with a mono-pusher chronograph movement was created. Rarely made throughout Cartier’s history, this model allowed the wearer to operate the start, stop and reset functions easily via the crown. Then, in 1998, the house re-released the watch as part of its highly exclusive Collection Privee Cartier Paris line of limited editions. Today, Cartier offers ladies' and men's Tortue models in a full range of styles.
Louis Cartier also created the house’s first oval-shaped timepiece in 1912, but it wasn’t until 1958 that the design evolved into one that Cartier fans are familiar with today. Featuring a dial with Roman numerals and a slightly curved case that followed the curves of the wrist, it was the first appearance of a watch that would be named Baignoire (French for bathtub) in 1973. Through the decades, Cartier also introduced variations of the shape, including the Baignoire Allongee – an elongated oval with a mechanical movement, as well as mid-sized versions with integrated gold bracelets and diamond-set models. In 2023, Cartier presented 11 new iterations of the Baignoire in mini and small sizes. Aside from variations featuring yellow gold or diamond-set bezels on patent leather straps that were well-received, there were iterations with bangles as well.
CLOCHE DE CARTIER
One of the rarest aesthetics in the maison’s repertoire, the cloche (French for bell) shape made its debut as a watch-brooch in 1920, followed by the first Cloche de Cartier wristwatch in yellow gold and leather straps two years later. Like many of the house’s signature pieces, it was named after its shape because when placed horizontally, its outline resembled that of a service bell found on a counter. Unusual and unique in its category, the rail track and hour markings are adapted to the dial’s asymmetrical shape and the crown is set with a cabochon. One reason why the watch is a sought-after collector’s piece is that it also doubles up as a desk clock when placed on a table on its flat end.
CARTIER CRASH
Urban legends are aplenty when it comes to the origins behind one of the house’s most distinctive watch shapes. Some say it came about when Jean-Jacques Cartier (founder Jacques Cartier’s son who ran the Cartier London boutique on Bond Street) was taken by a Baignoire Allongee watch that a customer had brought to the Cartier London boutique – deformed and half-melted in a car crash. Another theory is that it was inspired by Salvador Dalí’s pocket watches in his 1931 surrealist painting, The Persistence of Memory.
However, in an excerpt from The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewellery Empire, authored by Jean-Jacques’ granddaughter Francesca Cartier Brickell, it was revealed that the watch was conceived in the Swinging Sixties to meet the demands of loyal clients who wanted a radically different timepiece. Jean-Jacques worked with designer Rupert Emmerson to create an all-new model by adjusting the then-popular Baignoire Allongee form to look as if it had been in a crash. With pointed, pinched ends and one bulbous side, the unconventional watch proved to be more complex to execute than expected when it came to creating its unique case and painting the indices. The Cartier Crash was finally presented in 1967, with Cartier London creating only about a dozen watches under Jean-Jacques.
PEBBLE
Created in 1973 by Cartier London, from which the Crash and Baignoire Allongee originated, the intriguing Pebble stood out with a tilted square dial set in a round case with soft edges. Also known as the Baseball in the US, it is also one of the rarest watch shapes in Cartier watchmaking as only six pieces were ever produced. To commemorate its 50th year in 2022, Cartier reissued the Pebble in a limited edition of 150 individually numbered pieces. Although it looked like the original – with its round yellow gold case, eggshell-coloured dial, Roman numerals and square minutes track – the new model housed the Manufacture 430 MC calibre, one of Cartier’s slimmest hand-wound movements.
BALLON BLEU
Introduced in 2007, Cartier’s designers put a new spin on the round shape with the Ballon Bleu watch. As its name suggests, the shape of this timepiece draws inspiration from a balloon, and it is achieved by adding volume to the circle – the watch’s characteristic round case is doubly convex, which means it is domed on the front and back. To avoid breaking the watch’s seamless lines, the blue sapphire crystal crown is integrated into the case, with the crown cap under a metal hoop at three o’clock protecting it.
COUSSIN DE CARTIER
As seen in previous models, Cartier typically names its watches after the objects or living things it was inspired by. However, with the Coussin de Cartier, the maison upped the ante as the watch took on the characteristics of the object for which it’s named, the cushion. Of the collection of six watches launched in 2022, two limited editions featured a squishable bumper that formed the watch bezel. Made of flexible white gold mesh set with diamonds or coloured gemstones, the secret to its puffy roundedness and incredible tactility was a resin bumper that was placed beneath it.
The other four watches flaunted a gold square case with rounded edges. Even with rigid cases, Cartier deftly expressed the hard and soft qualities of a cushion with a spiral-like arrangement accentuated by alternating rows of gems arranged in an inverted setting.