The High-Flying History of the Wristwatch Will Surprise You
The story goes that in 1904, an aviator from Brazil by the name of Alberto Santos-Dumont was grousing to Louis Cartier about pocket watches: As a pilot, he found them impractical for use while flying. Cartier, scion of the French jewelry house and a caring friend indeed, came up with a novel solution: a purpose-built men’s watch that could be worn on the wrist. The rest, as they say, is histoire.
Now, 120 years later, Cartier has introduced a trio of 31.5mm iterations of the Santos-Dumont’s classic square-shaped design. This one is in platinum with a cabochon ruby crown and Arabic numerals on a distinctive olive-green satin-finished dial. (Its siblings come in rose gold with a peacock blue dial and strap and yellow gold with taupe grey dial and strap.) A lacquered bezel and an alligator strap finish off an elegant timepiece that can take its wearer from the cockpit to cocktails.
Santos-Dumont by Cartier
Reference: CRWGSA0096 Case Material: Platinum Caliber: 430 MC (manual winding, ultra-thin, 18 jewels, 3Hz, solid caseback) Power Reserve: approximately 38 hours Case Diameter: 31.5mm Thickness: 7.3mm Lug-to-lug: 43.5mm Numerals: Arabic Water Resistance: 30 meters or 98 feet Bracelet or Strap: Semi-matte alligator leather strap in olive green to match the dial Edition: limited to 200 pieces
Price upon request
This story originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of ELLE DECOR. SUBSCRIBE
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