Cartier at Watches & Wonders 2024

Step into a world of captivating timepieces where Cartier, the master of shapes, redefines watchmaking as we know it. The Cartier 2024 collection is a captivating exploration of form and function, blurring the lines between reality and imagination.

Throughout this narrative, you’ll encounter iconic designs reimagined, the concept of time playfully challenged, and a captivating menagerie of animal jewellery watches.

The Maison has always distinguished itself through the creation of unique forms, beginning with the design and crafting of silhouettes that fit instantly recognisable shapes. Like an alchemist, Cartier transforms matter into personal and precious objects of desire.

Those, in turn, carry intangible feelings, bear irreplaceable memories and elevate our souls. A true mystery marks some watch mechanisms. While they seem to be too impossible to even be real, they are nonetheless. Hence, the true magic lies in the very existence of these watchmaking creations, these timepieces. Cartier watches boast an essential design that emerges inevitably, making them a must-have creation, while revealing the wonders of the world as much as it creates them.

Cartier is a true magician.

“Cartier, the subtle magician, who dangles slivers of the moon on a thread of sun…”

By playing with shapes, crossing the border between the real and the imaginary, or stepping through a looking glass, Cartier approaches time from the perspective of a magician.

Illusion? Metamorphosis?

Cartier perceives the magic of time, measuring its beauty and revealing its mystery through its watchmaking repertoire. Furthermore, it is an infinite creative field that allows for all kinds of exploration, from the most formal to the most abstract, from the most technical to the most precious, and from the most daring to the most fantastic. Additionally, an invisible magic intertwines all of these creations, connecting style and spirit.

Moreover, magic is the common thread running through this edition of the Cartier 2024 Watches and Wonders offering. The Maison continually infuses its great classics with transformative power and constantly reinvents them. For instance, the Cartier Privé collection’s Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph watch is a testament to this. It sparks unexpected encounters between figuration and abstraction through a collection of jewellery watches that transform Cartier’s fauna and unsettle perceptions.

It also invites us to play with the mystery of time. Sometimes it’s an optical phenomenon, like the
Reflection de Cartier watch, which shifts the real into the imaginary. Sometimes it is an unexpected
measure, like that of the Santos-Dumont Rewind watch, which takes time backwards thanks to a movement that turns the hands counter-clockwise, or the Santos de Cartier Dual Time watch, which allows you to read the time simultaneously in two different places.

Cartier Privé Collection

Cartier Privé is the eighth annual rendez­vous for watchmaking enthusiasts, with a contemporary take on one of the most prestigious watches in Cartier’s repertoire: the Tortue. In previous years, the brand unveiled rare watches such as the Crash, the Tank Cintrée and the Tonneau, all of which underwent a redesign with a single ambition in mind: dedicating technique to aesthetics. Finally, this year, Cartier has chosen to introduce the monopoussoir chronograph complication.

The Tortue watch was born in 1912 from a powerful creative vision, namely to create a dialogue between curves and taut lines. The new hours/minutes Tortue is faithful to the original design but has been subtly reworked. Furthermore, with horns stretched along the strap and a slimmer profile, the watch has flourished and been made lighter. While also paying tribute to the very first model, it features apple-shaped hands and a rail track that follows the iconic shape of the watch around the hour markers, making the dial even easier to read. Lastly, it is worth noting that the new hours/minutes versions are limited and numbered to 200 pieces, and the platinum-set version to 50 pieces.

Rebirth of a Legend

Cartier first introduced the monopoussoir chronograph on a Tortue watch in 1928. The Collection Privée Cartier Paris notably reinterpreted it in 1998 with sophisticated details such as blued-steel apple-shaped hands, triangular motifs on the four corners of the dial, and a hollowed-out central seconds hand. On the dial, they placed the railway track on the outside of the Roman numerals. The two counters occupy the entire dial space, and the three functions – start, stop, and reset – are concentrated in a single push-button integrated into the crown, activated in a single motion. The movement is 4.3 mm thick, making it the Maison’s thinnest chronograph.

A watchmaker’s challenge, the complexity of which can be seen from looking at the open back as it reveals the fascinating spectacle of the gear train. The column wheel, in particular, is an essential component that regulates the functions of the various levers and presents a real challenge in terms of production and adjustment. The combination of expertise and master craftsmanship is the hallmark of this Manufacture
1928 MC movement, with its exceptional finish and the curves of its Cte de Genève decoration highlighting the shape of the bridges.

The levers, springs and bridges are bevelled, the metal is brushed, and the wheels and barrels are rimmed. With its play of nuances – the azure effect of the counters, the silvered opaline dial, and the rhodium-plated Roman numerals – this watch embodies the chromatic harmony of platinum and cabochon ruby that is so precious to Cartier. Limited edition of 200 numbered pieces.

Animal Jewellery Watches

Charismatic and untameable, the emblematic animals of Cartier’s menagerie have been present in its watchmaking since 1914, the year in which the panther’s coat first appeared on a watch case.
This year, a fascinating chimera, born from a meeting of the zebra and crocodile, inspires this entirely paved creation. It is simultaneously graphic and organic, with each stripe lacquered by hand. The silhouette of this imaginary creature encircles a diamond-shaped dial as if to embrace it. The delicacy of the engraving around each coloured stone reflects the Maison’s expertise.

“These new creations add to Cartier’s range of animal timepieces. Figurative or abstract, realistic or fanciful, they convey the beauty of nature. For decades, this theme has been reinvented with each new creation, exploring its rich aesthetic, evocative power and symbolic force.”

Pierre Rainero, Director of Image, Style and Heritage at Cartier.

Reflection De Cartier Collection

Pass through to the other side of the mirror, where time plays with appearances. After the Clash [Un]limited and Coussin watches, the Reflection de Cartier watch continues the odyssey of magic, illusion and fascination. The collection’s motto: transcribing the mysteries of time through bold creations. The result of Cartier’s work on shapes, this watch combines savoir-faire from Cartier watchmakers and jewellers alike. It all starts with the open bracelet’s unprecedented generous architecture, which blends openwork and polished reflective gold with elongated lines and defined edges. Tension culminates as a delicate dial meets its reflection, where time appears to move backwards.

The gem-like bevelled glass on the dial marks the piece’s double identity, equal in sophistication and precision. This structure has given rise to a watch in white gold that explores the effects of materials
through combinations of paving. Snow setting and inverted setting combine to give both tactile and sparkling appeal.

Santos De Cartier And Santos-Dumont Collections

Furthermore, the daring legacy of aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont continues to soar over the new Santos collections. The collection exudes the spirit, style and magic of a pioneer with a free spirit. Staying loyal to the aviator’s originality and ingenuity, Cartier 2024 is continuing the adventure with two newly-imagined versions of this icon. These watches question our perception of time and defy gravity, representing the ultimate conquest of the skies.

First, the elegant Santos-Dumont Rewind watch, which changes how we traditionally tell the time and, second, the bold Santos de Cartier Dual watch, which allows you to track two different time zones at once.
Bold and transformative, this new Santos de Cartier Dual Time watch overcomes distance, just like the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont did in his day.

Its mechanical movement with automatic winding combines two time zones, allowing you to tell the time both where you are and where you’re from simultaneously, without sacrificing its usual resistance and reliability. With tapered, ergonomic lines forming a synergy between the case’s lines and those of the bracelet, the watch in this steel version exudes elegance through its details. These include rhodium-finish
sword-shaped hands coated with a luminescent material, a seven-sided faceted crown and a grey counter showing a second adjustable time zone.

The Santos-Dumont Rewind

Like the Santos de Cartier collection as a whole, the bracelet offers ultimate practicality. Available in steel or leather, all versions can be interchanged thanks to the patented QuickSwitch system, the invisible mechanism of which blends into the case’s architecture. Meanwhile, the metal bracelet can be adjusted to the nearest link thanks to its patented tool-free SmartLink size adjustment system. Changing the course of time is the technical and aesthetic goal for the all-new Santos-Dumont Rewind watch.

Furthermore, the Carnelian dial is full of boldness, and its subtle nuances emphasise just how unique this platinum limited edition is. Roman numerals indicate the time in an arrangement that reverses tradition. Moreover, this Original and inventive Limited Edition follows in the magical and unprecedented footsteps of the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, for whom anything is possible. So, why not have the apple-shaped hands, with their mechanical movement with reversed manual winding, calibre 320 MC, move backwards rather than forwards?

Of course, this timeless watch remains loyal to the elegant original model from 1904 and to the pioneering spirit of Santos-Dumont, whose signature Cartier has engraved both forwards and backwards on the back of the dial. It is a limited edition of 200 numbered pieces.

Invest in a Cartier masterpiece

Visit the Cartier store in Sandton City or purchase online from cartier.com