Cartier arrived at this year’s Watches & Wonders with a purpose: to dazzle. Combining watchmaking magic with the Maison’s touch of elegance, the horological world is once again in for a treat.
Of the great jewellery design houses in the world, few have reached the level of Cartier. But the Maison was first and foremost known for its craft of watchmaking, pioneering trends and innovations in the industry throughout the century. While Cartier often brings about brand-new interpretations of its most influential designs — like with the new Cartier Santos Dumont Rewind, which we spoke about here — the Maison also came to the recent Watches & Wonders with a ‘wild’ statement to make.
This year, the Maison makes a callback to some age-old icons: Reflection de Cartier; and Cartier Tortue through the Cartier Privé collection; as well as debuts a brand-new Animal Jewellery Watch collection that plays with the Maison’s menagerie. Here are the highlights from Cartier at Watches & Wonders 2024.
Reflection de Cartier watch
From the open bracelet’s architecture comes a beautiful blend of openwork and polished reflective gold with elongated lines and defined edges. Playing on the uniqueness of shapes and appearances, the Reflection de Cartier watch combines savoir-faire from both the Maison’s watchmakers and its jewellers. As is the name of this notable timepiece, its delicate dial meets its reflection where in it, time seems to move backwards. Thus the ‘double identity’ of the dial is created, in the gem-like bevelled glass on the dial, equal in precision.
Available in several versions — yellow and rose gold; one in diamond-set white gold; and two in white gold paved with coloured stones — each Reflection de Cartier watch is a marvel in itself.
Cartier Privé collection
First created in 1912 the Tortue watch stands as one of the Maison’s most prestigious pieces in its repertoire, following on from the rare and sought-after Crash, Tank Cintrée and Tonneau. The Tortue Monopoussoir soon became Cartier’s first chronograph — and this year, specially for Watches & Wonders, the Maison introduces the single-button chronograph complication as well as the simple “hours/minutes” versions.
The launch of this Cartier Privé collection gives the chance of this particular complication to make its debut, which was first introduced on a Tortue watch in 1928 and later reinterpreted in 1998 as part of the Collection Privée Cartier Paris. Blued-steel apple-shaped hands, a hollowed-out central seconds hand and triangular motifs on the four corners of the dial — and that’s simply just a taste of what the collection has to offer. Like its original predecessors, the technique is dedicated to a rare and original aesthetic.
Cartier Animal Jewellery Watch collection
A stunning — and perhaps most surprising — reveal at Watches & Wonders is Cartier’s new Animal Jewellery watches. Of course, who can overlook the panther’s presence within the Maison? But this year, the Maison visualises an imaginary encounter between the crocodile and the zebra. The crocodile lends its coat to a fully-paved watch that is both graphic and organic, converging with the zebra’s stripes defined in lacquer by hand.
Also included in the Animal Jewellery Watch collection are three familiars: the panther, the crocodile standing on its own, and the tiger, each coated in rhodium-finish white gold.
(Images: Cartier)
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Written by
Puteri Yasmin Suraya
Senior Writer, Features and Tech
Hailing from an English Literature & Creative Writing background, Yasmin has a deep love for fiction and poetry. When she’s not reading or café-hopping, she spends most of her time in the comfort of her own room binge-watching period romances, (badly) belting out show tunes, and curating Spotify playlists to match her mood for the week.
