2021 Cartier Santos Dumont in platinum. Limited edition of 100 pieces for the Middle East featuring a stunning Hindu-Arabic numeral dial. This piece remains unworn and comes as a full set with original box and guarantee card from new.

Cartier History
Founded in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier after taking over the Parisian-based workshop of his mentor, Adolphe Picard, Cartier has grown from a relatively tiny family business into one of the world’s largest household-name jewellers. While the brand’s success has been immense, it is better attributed to Louis-François’ sons, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, who took charge of the brand in various regions. Louis led the Paris workshop while Pierre went stateside and opened a workshop in NYC in 1909. Just eight years later, in 1917, Pierre opened the iconic 653 Fifth Avenue location, which Cartier still finds itself in to this day.

While the brand’s popularity was originally attributed to their jewellery, the development of their wristwatch business drove the jeweller to new heights. In 1904, Cartier’s first men’s wristwatch, the Cartier Santos, was born when famed aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont told Louis Cartier about the impracticalities of using a pocket watch during flight. Seeing a solution to the problem, Louis designed the Cartier Santos as a wrist-mounted timepiece with a square case, angular bezel and manually-wound movement. In 1907 the brand entered into an agreement with Edmond Jaeger to supply movements to the brand, and from then on, the brand’s reputation was equally rooted in their watches as it was their jewellery. Following the Santos, Cartier released watches like the Tank, the Tortue and several other iconic watches.

Throughout their history, Cartier have developed an incredibly strong reputation as a revered watchmaker thanks to their partnerships with esteemed watchmakers like Edmond Jaeger (who would later enter into a partnership with LeCoultre leading to the Jaeger LeCoultre brands as we know today) and brands like Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet.

While their reputation waned in the 80s and 90s as they turned to jewellery-oriented quartz timepieces, they made a conscious effort to turn things around in the late 90s with a programme that became the birthplace of some of their most sought-after modern watches.