The History of Cartier

 

In 1847 Louis Cartier founded one of the most important luxury brands in the world. Among the great jewelry Maisons, Cartier was the first to recognize the importance of the world of watchmaking.

The name Cartier – from the very beginning synonymous with jewelry and luxury objects ("Jeweler of kings, king of jewelers," as defined by Edward VII of Wales) – soon became inseparably linked to watchmaking from the early 1900s.

Visionary as ever, Louis Cartier believed that the future of watchmaking no longer resided in the waistcoats where gentlemen kept their pocket watches, but rather on the wrists of passionate enthusiasts.

Indeed, in 1904 – when the watch was still almost exclusively associated with pocket timepieces – Cartier created a wristwatch for the legendary Brazilian aviator Santos Dumont.

In 1905, Louis Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger, securing exclusive rights to his watch production.

In the early decades of the century, Cartier began a production that would leave a lasting mark.

In 1906, the Tonneau debuted, with its sinuous line – still contemporary today and revisited by many maisons in recent times.

1917 saw the birth of the revolutionary Tank, with lugs that, like the tracks of a tank, extended the profile of the case; In 1928 the Tortue was introduced; then the Pasha (1984); then in 2004 the new Santos models (an homage to the iconic 1904 timepiece); and so it continues to this day, with the Ballon Bleu, Calibre, and Tank Anglaise: forms of an endless history of watchmaking seduction.

 

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