Why Cartier still leads as a master of watchmaking form

While many watchmakers chase complexity, Cartier pursues something purer: the poetry of proportion, the sensuality of shape, and the emotional resonance of design. And one needs to look no further than the waves of releases over this past year to understand this.

With a refresh of the most enduring icons across its watchmaking portfolio, Cartier once again demonstrates its enduring mission of sculpting time rather than simply measuring it. 

Santos: Pushing the limits

While the Santos’ popularity as a luxury sports watch is clearly established today, not many know just how seminal it is. Born in 1904, just 57 years after the house’s founding, it is Cartier’s first modern wristwatch, one of the very first modern wristwatches ever made, the world’s first pilot’s watch, and the design that launched Cartier towards its trajectory of contemporary watchmaking. 

Purpose-built by Louis Cartier for his friend, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Santos allowed time to be read mid-flight — a revolutionary concept for its era. The square case, rounded edges, and visible screws did not just become a new design language, but one that combined utility and innovation with Parisian elegance so well that it became Cartier’s first serially produced collection.

Today, Cartier continues to refine the Santos, most notably with the introduction of the first full-titanium model — complete with a matching bracelet in the ultra-light and durable metal, which weighs 43 per cent less yet 1.5 times harder than steel. The fully bead-blasted anthracite-hued case in a matte finish, crowned by a faceted black spinel and showcasing a classic silvery-white dial, is an exercise in enhanced toughness and aesthetic restraint. 

Another large model, in steel with a black dial featuring equal parts vertical and sunray brushing, debuts Super-Luminova in the Santos standard production line. With its fluorescent green hands and railway track, it is a sportier, nocturnal interpretation that highlights Cartier’s mastery of subtle contrasts. Fitted in both models is the automatic in-house Caliber 1847 MC with a 40-hour power reserve and a date function.

And completing the collection update are three small references with a sunray-brushed dial and long-life quartz calibre, capturing the same refinement in a more delicate format.

Tank: Geometry reimagined

If the Santos embodies Cartier’s pioneering spirit, the Tank represents its genius in geometry. Among Cartier’s enduring icons, none better embodies its design philosophy than the Tank, its legendary dress watch. Its creation in 1917 by Louis Cartier was a dramatic departure in an era when gentlemen’s pocket watches were still the norm. Inspired by the aerial view of the Renault FT-17 tank used during World War I, it revolutionised the aesthetic of wristwatches.

Over the decades, the Tank has evolved into over a dozen major sub-collections, as well as hundreds of individual references including limited editions. Earlier this year saw the launch of a larger and more assertive Tank Louis Cartier, which dates back to 1922, when the original Tank was given a more elongated case and refined brancards.

Measuring 38.1mm by 27.75mm by 8.18mm, this large model comes in yellow or rose gold. Inside beats the new 1899 MC calibre, an in-house automatic movement developed specifically for this enlarged case, preserving the Tank’s identity and proportions. The slight extension of the brancards while maintaining ergonomic comfort means heftier masculine wrists can now adopt an effortless elegance.

This Tank Louis Cartier joins the Art Deco-inspired Cartier Prive Tank a Guichets, also reissued this year, as part of the maison’s ongoing dialogue between past and future. Inspired by a digital-display model born in 1928, it returns in two layout iterations that recall Cartier’s Art Deco roots while anticipating modern minimalism. 

Ballon Bleu: Beyond circular

Few watches express the idea of tactile harmony like the Ballon Bleu de Cartier. Introduced in 2007, it quickly became one of the maison’s most recognisable shapes with its circle-within-a-circle design.

Its monobloc case integrates horns, middle case, and crown into a seamless sphere that is domed on both the front and back, creating the sensation of holding a perfectly balanced pebble. The cabochon-set crown, guarded by a protective metal arch, is the only element that lends a twist to the distinctive silhouette. 

Recently expanded to heighten its sculptural presence, the collection boasts four new precious references, each exploring colour, light, or complication in its own way.  The first is a 36mm Ballon Bleu Day/Night model, equipped with a crescent-shaped aperture at 10 o’clock that displays the passage from day to night. Available in white gold with an aventurine glass dial or pink gold with a mother-of-pearl dial surrounded by diamonds, it evokes celestial poetry beating to the rhythm of an automatic-winding movement.

For a bolder impact, Cartier has also unveiled yellow gold Ballon Bleu models in 40mm, with radiant blue or green sunray-brushed dials and driven by the automatic Calibre 1847 MC. Their Roman numerals and hands are finished in yellow gold to echo the case, offering precious alternatives to the current steel options.

Panthere: Feline dynamism

Is there ever a collection with such charisma? Conceived in the 1980s not just as a timepiece, but as a piece of jewellery defined by its fluid, articulated link bracelet evoking the motion of its emblematic cat, the Panthere de Cartier has come to be one of house’s most beloved and recognisable designs. 

Over the years, we’ve seen the collection undergo various iterations, from regular production pieces to high jewellery editions. Its most recent dramatic manifestations, realised over 110 hours by artisans at Cartier’s Maison des Metiers d’Art, include a rose gold version with an abstract hybrid coat merging zebra and tiger patterns in black and golden-brown lacquer, pave diamonds and spessartite garnets. Powered by a Swiss quartz movement, it is joined by four semi-paved diamond versions in yellow or rose gold.

Upping the ante are two magnificent high jewellery interpretations that turn Panthere anatomy into precious wrist architecture, featuring a realistically rendered cat leaping towards a discreet diamond-set dial on a Toi et Moi-style bracelet. The polished yellow gold version, spotted with black lacquer, boasts a black lacquer dial with a diamond-paved bezel, while the full-diamond encrusted white gold piece comes adorned with onyx spots.

Tressage: Sculptural innovation

One of the most fabulous and unexpected shapes launched by Cartier this year is the Tressage, defined by two gadrooned rows of twisted gold gliding over the wrist as a decorative statement. An expert of balance and contrasts, Cartier frames one side of the rectangular dial with sharp brancards, and pairs the creation with two calfskin straps.

There are four versions, including diamond-only, a blue sapphire and diamond piece, as well as a stone-free edition. Marie-Laure Cerede, Cartier’s director of jewellery and watchmaking, describes them as “watches of a third kind” — neither bracelet nor bangle but a sculptural object that carries time within. 

Baignoire and the minis: The power of scale

The Baignoire, named for its bathtub-like ellipse shape and curved crystal, remains one of Cartier’s most distinctive and diminutive expressions of feminine refinement. It now appears across a spectrum of personalities — from miniature lacquer-dial models on monochrome straps to more voluptuous gold bangles. 

A particularly luminous creation is a rose gold piece with a mother-of-pearl dial enclosed by a diamond-edged bezel using a triangular setting that preserves curvature. Another white gold one channels opulence with fully paved diamonds, whose setting further enhances the case’s dome.

And the Bagnoire isn’t the only shape Cartier has reduced the scale of. Its precise distillation of the Tank Louis Cartier, Tank Americaine, Panthere, and Tortue into mini models is a masterclass in playing with proportion, and experimenting between moderation and excess. Delicate in size but big on style, these new iterations have essentially sparked a trend for tiny timekeepers — to the joy of those of us who feel that, just sometimes, less is more.