Cartier Wristwatches
Cartier SA is a luxury watch producer and jeweler located 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 his nephews Pierre, Jacques and Louis developed Cartier to a famous international brand.
“Santos” – the first wristwatch ever was made by Louis Cartier
The break through of the brand Cartier took place in 1904, when Louis constructed a tiny wrist watch for Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian pilot and acquaintance of the family. The wristwatch was named “Santos” and made history as Cartiers 1st man’s wristwatch – and the 1st wrist watch ever. Their guests have been really pleased as well with the practical timepiece.
Louis was responsible for lots of the famous and favorable designs of the company. He made the so named “mystery clocks”, for instance. These wrist watches have a transparent dial and their clockworks are invisible. Another splendid creation of Louis was an funny wrist watch including multicoloured jewels called “Tutti Frutti”.
The Cartier Tank wristwatch has now more than thirty varieties
Already in 1907, Cartier was quickly evolving and had subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, London and New York. The company was evolving into one of the world’s most successful wristwatch companies. A special highlight in the history of Cartier was a watertight wristwatch made mainly for the Pasha of Marrakesh in 1932. Fifteen years earlier, Louis designed the “Cartier Tank watch”. This timepiece is still the most well-known clock of the company and has nowadays more than thirty variations.
At this time, the company began printing reference numbers on the underside of the wrist watches. The presence of these “four-digit-codes” is proving the watches’ originality. The company kept evolving 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 several investors – started to design different products that should keep the quality of Cartiers wrist watches in the past. The recent concept was named “Les Must de Cartier (Cartier – it is a must!)”. Nowadays, Bernard Fornas is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cartier. The headquarter of the company is still located in Paris, France. Cartier is seen as the no. two seller of luxurious wrist watches behind Rolex. Additionally, Cartier is the international no. one vendor of luxurious jewels. Men watches
