Cartier’s 2020 novelties seek inspiration from the legacy of the house and its iconic watch designs.
Cartier’s 2020 watchmaking novelties are united by the global theme of “Unexpected Encounters”. Since it began making watches the House has always combined shapes and ideas that were never expected to be together but somehow work seamlessly. For 2020 we see Cartier’s unusual designs through graphic shapes as it reinvents classic pieces from the history of the Maison.
Pasha de Cartier
The Pasha is an elegant and extroverted watch that has acquired cult status since it was first created in 1985. It celebrates the relationship between a circle and a square. With its distinctive codes and unusual design, the watch is for those who like to make a statement. Faithful to the original the 2020 reinterpretation of this watch has a crown featuring a blue spinel or sapphire, interchangeable strap in steel, gold or leather and multiple possibilities for personalisation through engraving. This modest engraving is only revealed with the famous chained crown of the watch is unscrewed.
This classic is timeless yet contemporary and edgy at the same time. Equipped with a sapphire crystal case back that reveals its movement, the new Pasha de Cartier watch is endowed with the 1847 MC automatic calibre. This in- house movement goes further still in the quest for performance and reassurance thanks to its resistance to both magnetism and water.
Maillon de Cartier
The Maillon watch is inspired by the classic Cartier bracelet. A statement of style this watch plays on the classic codes of the house with a modern touch. This watch is a jewel, designed by the Cartier watchmaking studios. Rectangular links are combined with a hexagonal dial to create an unusual shape that sits perfectly on the wrist. This watch deconstructs the classic Cartier bracelet and allows it to move freely on the arm.
The collection also sees exceptional stones inlaid within the bracelet and set into the links. The choice of stones in the blue lacquer and tsavorite version adds to the kinetic relief of the watch. A graphic effect and contrast that Cartier accentuates with a version in yellow gold and diamonds with black lacquer bevelled links.
Cartier Privé Tank Asymétrique
Since 2017 the Cartier Privé collection has highlighted some of the brand’s iconic models. This year the Cartier Tank sees a new incarnation in the form of the Tank Asymétrique. This watch gives new life to the original tank watch by expanding the rectangle and moving the dial’s numeral’s 30 degrees to the right to create an unusual but instantly recognisable appearance. Instead of the signature Roman numerals, it features Arabic numerals separated by baton-style hour markers.
This Art Deco-inspired watch combines a unique design with expert watchmaking. The watch comes in a 47.15mm x 26.2mm case and is available in yellow gold with a champagne dial and brown strap and in platinum with a silver-coloured dial, ruby cabochon and grey strap. Inside is the calibre 1917 MC, a thin and shaped hand-wound movement operating at 21,600 vibrations/hours with 38 hours of power reserve. Each version is produced in a limited edition of 100 watches.
Santos de Cartier
Today Cartier is paying tribute to Santos Dumont a friend of Louis Cartier, for who he first created a watch in 1904. The Santos-Dumont XL watch is a set of three watches available in a limited series. This complete reworked design including new proportions plays tribute to the original by celebrating the purity of its lines and the beauty of its mechanical movement with a manual winding system.
A contoured case and taut lines are some of the features of the watch that are enhanced by this new size. The dial is wide on the wrist and features sword-shaped hands, a sunray finish and a beaded winding crown.
Cartier Métiers d’Art
The Cartier Métiers d’Art watches highlight the excellence and quality produced by the Maison’s artisans. Since 1914 Cartier has been fascinated with the panther, an animal that has been reinterpreted multiple times through the Maison’s jewellery and watches. For the precious Métiers d’Art designs for 2020, the panther is motif is presented again in multiple ways. Straw and gold marquetry are combined with enamel filigree to create these precious pieces, each design requiring the work of craftsmen, jewellers, designers, enamellers, gem-setters and miniature painters.
Highly detailed techniques that require hours upon hours of work are used to create these two special designs. The first the Ronde Louis Cartier Straw Marquetry watch was created using the technique of straw and gold marquetry. Seventy-five blades of straw in different sizes and shades, produced in 11 colours make up parts of the dial. The feline’s head is comprised of more than sixty-five elements in white, yellow and pink gold, which are shaped and satin-finished one by one. With an unusual play of meta-exploration, yellow gold wires are embedded in natural straw elements, adding complexity and sophistication that the craftsmen explored for the first time.
Cartier combines ceramic arts with the art of composition, to which marquetry belongs, by enamelling the spots on the coat and eyes. The rich colour palette contrasts black and white with a large number of shades between opaline and yellow. For the eyes, four different shades come together on a minuscule surface. The gaze comes to life with sparkle, shine and depth, an expression of Cartier’s figurative and realist art. The spots in the background are created with miniature paint.
Brought to life after more than 100 hours, 97 of which are spent on the dial alone, this creation is available in a limited edition of 30 individually numbered timepieces.
The Ronde Louis Cartier Enamel Filigree Watch uses a filigree technique, developed by Cartier’s craftsmen that can be used with enamel. The enamel powder is heated and the glass stretched until it takes on the shape of bamboo, before being set and fixed to the dial by tiny strands of yellow gold. Furthermore, domed champlevé enamel is used for the bamboo in the background and the black spots of the panther’s fur and eyes, as well as miniature painting for the sky. This watch is available in a limited edition of 30 individually numbered pieces.
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