Cartier Wristwatches
Cartier SA is a luxury watch maker and jeweler based in Paris, France. The family business was established in 1847 in Paris by Louis-Françoise Cartier. During the following decades, his son Alfred Cartier and later on his nephews Pierre, Jacques and Louis developed Cartier to a well-known worldwide brand.
“Santos” – the 1st wrist watch ever was constructed by Louis Cartier
The breakthrough of the brand Cartier happened in 1904, when Louis designed a flat wrist watch for Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian airman and friend of the family. The wristwatch was named “Santos” and made history as Cartiers first man’s wristwatch – and the first wristwatch ever. Their clients have been very pleased as well with the practical timepiece.
Louis was responsible for lots of the famous and successful designs of the company. He produced the so named “mystery clocks”, for instance. These watches have a transparent dial and their clockworks are invisible. Another amazing innovation of Louis was an exotic wristwatch including multicoloured jewels named “Tutti Frutti”.
The Cartier Tank watch has now more than thirty variations
Already in 1907, Cartier was rapidly growing and had subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, London and New York. The company was developing into one of the world’s most successful wrist watch brands. A special highlight in the history of Cartier was a watertight wristwatch invented in the main for the Pasha of Marrakesh in 1932. Fifteen years earlier, Louis developed the “Cartier Tank watch”. This wrist watch is still the most well-known clock of the company and has today more than thirty variations.
At this time, the company started printing reference numbers on the bottom of the watches. The presence of these “four-digit-codes” is proving the watches’ originality. The company kept growing and in 1964, Jean-Jacques, Claude and Marionne (the children of Jacques, Louis and Pierre) sold the entire business.
A new concept – “Les Must de Cartier”
The new possessors – a group of different investors – began to design different products that should keep the quality of Cartiers wrist watches in the past. The new concept was named “Les Must de Cartier (Cartier – it is a must!)”. Now, Bernard Fornas is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cartier. The headquarter of the company is still placed in Paris, France. Cartier is regarded as the no. two vendor of luxurious watches behind Rolex. In addition to that, Cartier is the worldwide no. one vendor of luxurious jewels. Men’s watches
