Why I Love Cartier Watches
Cartier SA is a luxury wrist watch maker and jewelry maker based in Paris, France. The family business was founded in 1847 in Paris by Louis-Françoise Cartier. During the next decades, his son Alfred Cartier and afterward his nephews Pierre, Jacques and Louis developed Cartier to a famous worldwide brand.
“Santos” – the 1st wrist watch ever was produced by Louis Cartier
The break through of the brand Cartier occurred in 1904, when Louis constructed a flat timepiece for Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian airman and friend of the family. The wrist watch was called “Santos” and made history as Cartiers 1st man’s wristwatch – and the first wristwatch ever. Their clients have been really pleased as well with the practical timepiece.
Louis was responsible for lots of the famous and successful designs of the brand. He developed the so called “mystery clocks”, for instance. These watches have a transparent dial and their clockworks are invisible. Another splendid innovation of Louis was an funny watch including multicoloured jewels called “Tutti Frutti”.
The Cartier Tank watch has nowadays more than thirty varieties
Already in 1907, Cartier was quickly growing and had subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, London and New York. The company was evolving into one of the world’s most successful wrist watch companies. A great highlight in the history of Cartier was a waterproof wrist watch produced mainly for the Pasha of Marrakesh in 1932. Fifteen years earlier, Louis designed the “Cartier Tank watch”. This watch is still the most noted clock of the company and has today more than thirty varieties.
At this time, the company began printing reference numbers on the bottom of the wristwatches. 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 whole business.
A new concept – “Les Must de Cartier”
The new proprietors – a group of several investors – began to design new products that should keep the quality of Cartiers wristwatches in the past. The new concept was called “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 worldwide no. one vendor of luxurious jewels. Watches for men
