One of the most covetable watches of the past year was not an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak or a Rolex Submariner. No, it was a Cartier Baignoire. Released during last year’s Watches & Wonders, the French luxury maison revived the heritage style with a mini version offered on a slim gold bangle and standard sizes in yellow, rose, and white gold on bracelets or leather straps. The dainty quartz timepieces generated a fervour typically reserved for sportier mechanical watches, with the watch spotted on the wrists of celebrities and horological aficionados alike and accompanied by a sizeable waiting list.
With Watches & Wonders 2024 kicking off, will one of these new releases be the It watch of the year? Knowing Cartier, it’s quite likely. For Watches & Wonders 2024, Cartier has leaned into its peerless status as the watchmaker of shapes, with releases speaking to the maison’s prowess for elevating timepieces into emotional objects of desire. Put simply, there’s always been something about Cartier.
Without further ado, these are the Cartier Watches & Wonders 2024 novelties you need to know about.
Tortue
Released each year, the Cartier Privé collection celebrates core models in the maison’s extensive portfolio by reimagining an archival model from the Cartier vault. Using precious materials and released in limited quantities, the Privé collection is consistently one of the most anticipated (and impressive).
Originally designed in 1912, the Cartier Tortue is the result of a desire to create a dialogue between curvilinear and rectilinear lines. The design is a little shorter and stockier than a classic tonneau watch, lending it a more archetypal masculine feel than the dandy vibe of a tonneau. The reimagined Tortue remains faithful to the original design, albeit with reworked horns stretching along the strap and a slightly slimmer profile. Heritage details include the Breguet (or apple-shaped) watch hands and the railway-style minutes track that follows the lines of the case.
The new Cartier Privé releases comprise a time-only (hours and minutes) version in platinum or yellow gold, as well as a platinium version set with breilliant-cut diamonds. The yellow gold version sees the dial feature a finely grained golden finish and the crown set with a sapphire cabochon. Each timepiece uses Roman numerals, with the platinum version featuring rhodium-plated hour markers.
Model: Tortue
Case size: 41.4mm x 32.9mm
Movement: 430 MC (manual winding)
Limited edition: 200 yellow gold, 200 platinum, 50 diamond-set platinum
Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph
The second Cartier Privé release teams a fun complication with the archival silhouette. The monopusher (i.e. single-button) chronograph was first introduced on a Tortue watch in 1929 and reinterpreted in 1998 as part of the Collection Privée Cartier Paris. The details of that release are present here today, with blued Breguet hands, a hollowed-out central seconds hand, and triangular motifs on the four corners of the dial.
Here, the hour markers and railway-style minutes track follow a conventional circular format to promote better legibility, while a bicompax layout houses two chronograph counters. The single-push button is integrated into the crown and houses the start, stop, and reset functions. The manual winding 1928 MC mechanical movement is just 4.3mm thick, making it the maison’s thinnest chronograph — you can watch it at work through the open caseback.
The timepiece is available in platinum and yellow gold.
Model: Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph
Case size: 43.7mm x 34.8xx
Movement: 1928 MC (manual winding)
Limited edition: 200 yellow gold, 200 platinum
Santos-Dumont Rewind
At first glance, the Santos-Dumont Rewind looks like a typical Cartier Santos-Dumont, albeit with an elegant carnelian dial. But look again. Here, the maison plays with the concept of time, using a reversed manual winding calibre 230 MC to send the hours and minutes hands backwards rather than forwards — take another look at the layout of the Roman numeral hour markers. The Santos-Dumont Rewind takes form in platinum and is presented on a brown alligator leather strap.
Model: Santos-Dumont Rewind
Case size: 31.5mm x 43.5mm
Movement: 230 MC (manual winding)
Limited edition: 200
Santos-Dumont
Here, time is told in the conventional way, letting the playful colours do the talking. Vibrant lacquered dials juxtapose the traditional silhouette, with the new releases pairing olive green with platinum, peacock blue with rose gold, and taupe grey with yellow gold. Each dial is coated with a thin layer of smoothed and hand-polished lacquer, measuring in at less than a thousand of a millimetre (don’t ask us how they measured that). The dials have a sunburst finish and play host to Arabic numerals, with the font echoing the rounded corners of the Santos-Dumont dial and case.
Model: Santos-Dumont
Case size: 31.5mm x 43.5mm
Movement: 430 MC (manual winding)
Limited edition: 200 pieces each
Santos de Cartier Dual Time
Double time. Here the maison fits the Santos de Cartier with an automatic dual time movement, which displays the first time zone in the conventional way and the second on a subdial at 6 o’clock. The timepiece is executed in steel and features rhodium-plated sword-shaped lume-coated hands.
Model: Santos de Cartier Dual Time
Case size: 40.2mm x 47.5mm
Movement: automatic winding with dual time
Reflection de Cartier
Fusing watchmaking and jewellery codes, the Reflection de Cartier plays with the concept of timetelling through illusion. The open bracelet features unique architecture that blends openwork and polished reflective gold surfaces with elongated lines and defined edges. The watch dial (topped with gem-like bevelled glass) is reflected back onto the open surface, wherein time appears to move backwards. The timepiece is available in rose and yellow gold.
Model: Reflection de Cartier
Case size: 18.4mm x17.5mm
Movement: quartz
Reflection de Cartier
These takes on the Reflection de Cartier up the ante in the jewellery stakes. The first sees a white gold iteration play host to a diamonds in a striking snow setting formation, designed to increase both tactile and visual appeal.
The next two versions pair white gold with gemstones and lacquer to create a sensual, chromatic effect. The first features a blue and green colourway executed through the use of chrysoprases, obsidian, emeralds, Paraiba tourmalines and an iridescent blue-green lacquer. The second employs opal, amethysts, spessartite garnets, and tiger’s eye inserts.
Model: Reflection de Cartier
Case size: 18.4mm x17.5mm
Movement: quartz
Zebra Animal Jewellery Watch
The panther often commands attention in the Cartier animal kingdom, however this year it’s the zebra’s turn to shine. The striped coat of the equine animal lends itself to a graphic interplay of colours and shapes, with the resultant case taking on a coiled, curled shape; as if ready to pounce. The stripes see hand-applied lacquer interlaced with gemstones on the bezel, which surrounds a completely iced-out dial.
Model: Zebra Animal Jewellery Watch
Movement: quartz
Crocodile Jewellery Watch
Joining the zebra on safari is the crocodile, with the creature itself wrapping around the bezel to observe the passing of time. The scales are—naturally—expressed through diamonds, culminating in a bright emerald eye.
Model: Crocodile Jewellery Watch
Movement: quartz
Animal Jewellery Watch
Wearers of these Animal Jewellery Watches come face to face with either a tiger or crocodile, with each animal clamping their jaws over a sunray dial. Rawr.
Model: Animal Jewellery Watch
Movement: quartz
Albert Review will be covering Watches & Wonders 2024 as it unfolds. For more novelties, horological news, and new releases, check out our Watches & Wonders coverage here.
Words by T. Angel
