Cartier – The Watch Review Site

GPHG – Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2012 Winners

Sol Solomon — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:40:21 +0000

GPHG – Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2012

The Winners

The 12th Prize giving ceremony took place this evening at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the winners of the 12th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève have been unveiled as

“Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix – Tag Heuer Mikrogirder

Special Jury Prize – Société Suisse de Chronométrie (SSC)

Ladies’ Watch Prize – Chanel, Première Tourbillon Volant

Men’s Watch Prize – MB&F, Legacy Machine N°1

Innovation Prize – HYT, H1 Titane Black DLC

Jewellery and Artistic Crafts Watch Prize – Chopard, Imperiale Tourbillon Full Set

Best Complicated Watch Prize – Greubel Forsey, Invention Piece 2

Sports Watch Prize – Habring2, Doppel 2.0

“Petite Aiguille” Prize – Zenith, Pilot Big Date Special

Best Watchmaker Prize – Carole Forestier Kasapi

Public Prize – MB&F, Legacy Machine N°1

Calibre de Cartier Watches – A Reflection in Time

Scott Greenman — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:31:30 +0000

Personal Reflections of the Calibre de Cartier Watch

Written for Scott Greenman by Roger

When the Calibre de Cartier was first introduced in 2010, my recollection was that of an impressive watch. Now, Cartier has always been known to produce visually stunning watches. But, the Calibre was also a big step forward in terms of providing top-notch movements for Cartier’s steel watches in this price range.

Calibre de Cartier Pink Gold Watch W7100009

The in-house 1904-PS MC movement features twin barrels to provide a steady flow of power to the escapement, and the regulation system allows for fine adjustment for precise timekeeping. A stop-seconds system facilitates synchronization to a reference signal. In addition, Cartier also paid close attention to the winding system. Ceramic ball bearings at the center of the rotor ensures excellent shock resistance and durability.

Cartier abandoned reversers in favor of a pawl system to speed winding, and a bi-directional full-size rotor assures maximum winding efficiency. And, as mentioned above, the visual appearance is stunning as well.

The oversize “XII”, other Roman numerals, and luminous hour markers provides a blending of styles, but does not distract from a still clearly legible dial. The oversized date window allows a view of three dates in a row at one glance.

The case is also well constructed for durability. The crown features a synthetic spinel cabochon. Both front and back crystals are sapphire, and the case is water-resistant to 30 meters. The alligator strap comes with an double-adjustable folding clasp. The Calibre de Cartier case measures 42mm in diameter and is available in steel, steel and pink gold, and solid pink gold.

Since its introduction in 2010, the Calibre de Cartier has proven popular with the masses; and therefore, Cartier has kept the model in their product line. And, this is no easy feat considering Cartier’s fondness for discontinuing models prematurely.

For more News and Reviews on Cartier including videos and the brand new Tank Anglaise Watch why not visit The Watch Review Sites Cartier Brand Page.

Original article can be seen here http://www.thefinestwatches.com/blog/?author=3

Cartier Tank Anglaise Watch – It’s been 16 years…

D Constant — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:15:20 +0000

Cartier Tank Anglaise Watch – The Launch

Written by D Constant for The Watch Review Site

Well was it worth the wait… Cartier enthusiasts will definitely think so and so do we.

Well it has been 16 years since we have seen a new Cartier Tank style released and now its our turn its the 2012 New Cartier Tank Anglaise or English Tank… I think Tank Anglaise sounds more Cartier like and befits this timepiece rather than its literal translation…

So, what have Cartier got in stall for us with the new Tank Anglaise, Well it was first shown to the world at BaselWorld 2012 back in March and its has now been launched in the UK and across the world by this infamous jeweller. This new Tank is a sort of cross between the Tank Francaise and the Ballon Bleu, see for yourself.

As per time honoured recent tradition Cartier have produced a Video Introducing us to the Tank Anglaise and highlighting its predecessors in History all the way back to the first Tank in 1917. I’m sure we will be seeing a new Tank in 5 years for the centenary. Here’s the Video for you all to see.

Video courtesy of Cartier – Never Stop Tank – Tank Anglaise Watch Video

As a quick brief the Cartier Tank Anglaise will be available in Large (Men’s) 47mm Long and 36.2mm wide , Medium (Unisex) 39.2mm long and 29.8mm and Small (Women’s) 30.2mm x 22.7mm Sizes. and they are all a new slimline Cartier Tank with the thickness ranging from 9.82mm to 7.19mm.

As you can see the Cartier Tank Anglaise has kept its Classic Cartier Silvered Dial with Blue Hands a must with a Tank (I’m sure most Cartier watch buyers would agree, a timeless classic dial) , what does strike you as interesting is the crown feature and cut out extruding from the Bezel, I actually really like the idea and it seems to work very well with this timepiece. It offers a flush finish to the side of the watch and also incorporates the mainstay of Cartier it’s sapphire crystal cabochon on the crown. Its Angular extrusions with the rounded end piece and sapphire make it an artwork in itself.

The Cartier Tank Anglaise Watch is available in Three Colours these being 18k White Gold, Yellow Gold and Rose Gold, Yes no Steel options yet… and they all come with matching bracelets

They have also got a number of different diamond options, one with diamonds on each side of the bezel and others fully encrusted, if that’s your cup of tea. For regular readers of our articles and reviews, you will already know at The Watch Review Site we are not overly keen on diamond encrustation…

Now to the nitty gritty of the Cartier Tank Anglaise Watch, It comes with either Quartz movements or Automatic Movements depending on which model and size you opt for, The pick of the bunch will have to be the Large Model which features Cartier’s inhouse caliber 1904 MC Automatic Movement, oh I forgot to mention the Sapphire Crystal Exhibition Case back that comes on all the watches, this means you can now see the movements creativity also.

The Cartier Tank Anglaise Small all come with a Cartier 057 Quartz movement, The Medium non Diamond Tank Anglaise have the Caliber Cartier 077 Automatic Self Winding Mechanical Movement and the Diamond versions have the Cartier 076 Automatic Movement at the heart of the timepiece.

And for anyone contemplating wearing the Cartier Tank Anglaise whilst washing the dishes or swimming it is water resistant to 30m.

The Tank Anglaise Watch Small starts from £15,000, with the Tank Anglaise Medium starting from £21,750 and Large from £26,750 for the Rose or Yellow Gold Non-Diamond versions, with the White Gold being slightly more expensive.

Well so Cartier has now covered the French (Tank Francaise), Americans (Tank Americaine) and now us Brits with The Cartier Tank Anglaise. With no bias at all I would have to say this is the best Tank Watch yet.

Photo’s and Video content courtesy of Cartier.

Cartier Promenade d’une Panthère – One for the Women

Meehna Goldsmith — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:55:56 +0000

For the Ladies: Cartier goes for the Women’s Market with the Promenade d’une Panthère

21st March 2012

Written by Meehna Goldsmith

At the 2012 SIHH show Cartier once again released an impressive lineup of haute horlogerie captained by the imaginative and creative Carole Forestier-Kasapi, the reigning queen of movement design. She’s the one behind the impressive Time Zone watch last year. Though there were some impressive tourbillons in the mix, the Promenade d’une Panthère stood out as one of the most important pieces. Cased in 18K rhodiumized white gold set with brilliant-cut diamonds, the watch is a showstopper with its purple mother-of-pearl dial and bejeweled panther spinning round, finished off with an alligator strap with an 18K rhodiumized buckle set with brilliant-cut diamonds. A total of 6.8 carats of diamonds altogether. Oh, I like that!

But, did I pick the Cartier Promenade d’une Panthère because I’m dizzy from all the sparkling diamonds or charmed by Cartier’s rendering of their symbol of the lithe panther? No, of course not.

Alright, I admit I’m taken with the beauty of the piece and wouldn’t mind having it on artistic merit alone so I could promenade around town. This is Cartier, after all, and they personify style. I’ve showed you what they’ve done with the Tank after more than 100 years. But that’s not the reason I picked this watch for special mention. It’s that the Promenade d’une Panthère symbolizes a changing era for women’s watches, which has been under served, underdeveloped and practically ignored since the 1970’s. Cartier is one of the companies that has the foresight to jump aboard and take advantage of this untapped market.

For the last 30 or so years, women’s watches were synonymous with a quartz movement with few exceptions. Before the invention of the quartz watch, women had to—gasp—wind their watches. They didn’t faint or get flustered and need to sit down to handle the affair. They just reset the watch if it happened to stop. The split happened in the 1970’s when the battery dispensed with winding for two to three years through the battery’s life.

Even after the resurgence of the mechanical watch in the 1990’s for men, brands continued to market quartz watches to women. Women were told they’d be better off with a quartz watch because then they wouldn’t have to be “bothered” with winding it or “confused” by setting it. An obviously ghastly situation for the fairer sex. So what were the brands really doing? They were selling the idea of convenience for a nice, tidy profit. Yes, indeed, the margins in a ladies quartz watch are much larger than in a mechanical watch.

The Promenade d’une Panthère not only acknowledges a burgeoning market but also respects women and their ability to appreciate horology. Forestier- Kasapi, a woman herself, has designed a brand new movement (not just one in stock) for this innovative women’s timepiece, the Calibre 9603 MC. Instead of placing the rotor on the back of the watch, which is the traditional position, she’s inverted it to the front in the form of the panther. Movement of the wrist propels the three-dimensional panther round the dial while at the same time winding the watch. A sapphire case-back allows a view to the excellent finishing of the movement.

You could always tell a watch made for women by its size. Smaller than a man’s, it usually tops out at about 38mm. The Promenade d’une Panthère comes in a what could be called the man’s average size now of 42.75mm. It shows Cartier’s understanding that like men, women want bigger watches, not dainty pea-sized dials that can only be read with a pince-nez.

With the Promenade d’une Panthère Forestier has created mechanical artwork, appealing to women’s love of jewelry and also speaking to their potential to enjoy mechanics. See the video by Cartier below.

Article provided by Meehna Goldsmith you can also follow Meehna on Twitter @thewatchlady, video prrovided by Cartier.

Original article content can be viewed at http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/2_womens_watches/for-the-ladies-cartier-goes-for-the-womens-market-with-the-promenade-with-the-promenade-dune-panthere.html#more-7193

The Story Behind the L’odyssee de Cartier

D Constant — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 22:43:34 +0000

The Story of the L’odyssee – Cartier Film

Written by D Constant of The Watch Review Site

20th March 2012

We bought you the short film produced by Cartier in our recent article here on the Watch Review Site (/its-here-lodyssee-de-cartier/) link provided if you want to see it again.

Now we can share with you the thinking behind the story, this short film/interview with Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s Image, Style and Heritage Director, explains the panthers journey and the heritage of Cartier. It points out what certain parts of the orignal short film/advert symbolise and refer to.

Cartier summarises it as “to create elegance for all of lifes moments”

It’s worth a watch especially if you enjoyed L’odyssee de Cartier as it will shed light on the whole concept

Official Cartier Video

True Cartier’s stories which have inspired the Movie “L’Odyssée de Cartier”.

Interviewed : Pierre Rainero / Cartier’s Image, Style and Heritage Director

Article written by D Constant of The Watch Review Site and Video souce : Cartier

Its here – L’Odyssée de Cartier

D Constant — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:44:34 +0000

L’Odyssée de Cartier – It’s Here

It’s here on The Watch Review Site, we have mentioned this before in other posts /?p=568 and /?p=558 but now we are able to show you the masterpice itself, the whole 3 1/2 minutes of it.

The L’Odyssée de Cartier is a journey between the dreamy state and reality, in a first for cartier, they have in there infinate wisdom decided to create a cinema epic focusing on its history, its values and inspiration.

This 3 1/2 minute film, directed by Bruno Aveillan and features model Shalom Harlow, took two years to make.

Please let us know your thoughts.

We think its a really clever marketing tool that cartier have harnessed and produced the epic of all adverts. As can be seen by the 4.9million YouTube views to date.

The Sound of Time

Admin — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:58:34 +0000

The Sound of Time

By JESSICA MICHAULT

Published: March 8, 2012

PARIS — For most of the past decade the watch industry has been entranced by the tourbillon’s hypnotic revolutions, with brands spinning out the cagey little complication in ever greater numbers and more ingenious ways.

But recently watchmakers have broken free of the spell, shifting their attention from the visual fascination of the tourbillon to the tuneful appeal of the minute repeater.

Minute repeater clocks and pocket watches were invented in the mid-18th century, before the advent of electric lighting. Their practical function at that time was their ability, though chiming gongs, to sound the hours, quarter hours and minutes in separate tones, enabling people to tell the time even in the middle of a pitch black night.

Over the past year, close to two dozen new minute repeater models have been introduced in the luxury wristwatch market, by brands as diverse in style and heritage as Bulgari, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Louis Vuitton, Audemars Piguet, Speake-Marin, Van Cleef & Arpels, Breguet, Patek Philippe, Cartier, Hublot, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux and Parmigiani Fleurier.

The number of new minute repeaters on the market is staggering, considering that there is no real need for them in the modern world. But that irrelevance — the sense of belonging to another world — is part of their appeal.

“There is a true fascination in being able to hear the time, it harks back to another lifetime,” Peter Speake-Marin, an independent watchmaker, said by e-mail ahead of the introduction of his first venture into the genre, the Renaissance Tourbillon Minute Repeater, at Baselworld this week. “When it is visible, to see the levers, cams and springs moving, it is a thing of curious beauty,” he added.

While the minute repeater function is no longer particularly useful, the complexity of the mechanism gives makers serious bragging rights.

At the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva in January, the minute repeater watches garnered the biggest buzz.

Cartier’s haute horlogerie watchmaker, Carole Forestier-Kasapi, proudly showed her Rotonde de Cartier Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon. The brand’s first in-house-manufactured minute repeater, it took five years to complete.

“The minute repeater is complex because in this mechanism you need to have in mind not only hours and minutes but also to be able to translate them into sound,” Mrs. Forestier-Kasapi said. “That’s why a minute repeater mechanism includes a large number of components: Their number increases the complexity of the mechanism in an exponential way.”

Mrs. Forestier-Kasapi complemented her minute repeater with the added eye candy of a tourbillon complication. Just like the minute repeater, the tourbillon — a gyro device to counter the distorting effect of gravity on vertical timepieces like clocks and pocket watches — serves no useful function in a wristwatch. But by putting an additional spin on the complication, in a variant known as a flying tourbillon, the watchmaker was able to demonstrate her brand’s high creativity and growing technical prowess.

The technical difficulty of building a minute repeater, which incorporates an additional spring to power the chiming mechanism, is a clear way for watchmakers to distinguish themselves. To sound the hours, quarters and minutes, the mechanism uses three snail cams — tiny rotating devices, shaped like a cross-section through a snail shell, that transmit a repetitive bumpy motion as they turn, like a wheel with a bent rim. The bumpy motion cocks and releases the hammers that strike the chimes.

And then, there are the chimes themselves to build and tune, a painstaking process using wires of varying tension and thickness, like miniature piano strings.

While some watchmakers like to flaunt their skills in see-through skeleton designs, Van Cleef & Arpels has chosen to conceal its minute repeater complication behind the richly decorated faces of its new Poetic Wish watches, which tell a romantic story of lovers seeking one another against a backdrop of the Paris skyline.

For Nicolas Bos, Van Cleef’s global creative director, this discretion is in keeping with the brand’s philosophy that a watch’s complications should serve, not dominate, its narrative.

“Jean-Marc Wiederrecht helped us determine this was the best movement to illustrate the story,” Mr. Bos said by e-mail, paying homage to the Geneva watch designer who has conceived Van Cleef’s Poetic Complications watch line since 2005. “The minute repeater was able to add a sensorial layer” of sound that accompanies the visible movements of the lovers whose passage across the dial traces the passage of time.

But it is Michael Parmigiani of Parmigiani Fleurier who is truly setting the pace in the minute repeater revival, introducing several new models this year: the Toric Westminster Eiffel; the Toragraph Tourbillon Minute Repeater with Chronograph; and the Toric Questor Minute Repeater, offered in a limited edition of just two watches, one in platinum and one in 18-karat rose gold.

Why so many?

“While we already have a great collection at Parmigiani Fleurier, we felt we needed to have a minute repeater in the Haute Horlogerie segment as well as a minute repeater with Cathedral gong, chronograph, perpetual and annual calendar,” Mr. Parmigiani said. “It is a way to achieve excellence in the profession and to prove our know-how by creating such rare models.”

Source: New York Times

A version of this article appeared in print on March 9, 2012, in The International Herald Tribune

Full article available http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/fashion/09iht-acaw-repeater09.html

Cartier Debut Short Film ‘L’Odyssée de Cartier’

Admin — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 02:33:12 +0000

Cartier debut short film ‘L’Odyssée de Cartier’ to celebrate their rich history 165 years of history come together in Cartier’s first short film ‘L’Odyssée de Cartier’ which premieres worldwide today.

BY Belinda White | 05 March 2012

‘L’Odyssée de Cartier’ is a visual spectacular of cutting edge special effects, which explores the fine jeweller’s archives and back-story in a bid to showcase the brand to both existing customers, emerging markets and a new generation. “This project has been treated like a real movie,” Cartier UK’s executive chairman Arnaud M.Bamberger explained at a preview screening at Cartier’s London HQ last week, “we wanted the best special effects, a big director, an incredible model and props to intertwine with our incredible history. “We wanted a movie we would be proud to show to Steven Spielberg”.

Well as promotional videos go, you have to hand it to Cartier, L’Odyssée de Cartier really is a no-expense-spared mini-masterpiece. The three and a half minute film follows the iconic symbol of the brand – the panther – on a whirlwind trip around the globe where he brushes with key moments and locations from Cartier’s rich history.

The panther itself is steeped in history. ‘La Panthère’ being the nickname of Catier’s legendary designer Jeanne Toussaint who created their first ever piece of panther jewellery – a bracelet for the Duchess of Windsor.

The panther travels to St Petersburg in the snow, to China where he comes face-to-face with a golden dragon, to an Indian palace built upon an elephant’s back and filled with glittering animal jewellery (many pieces of which reside in the Cartier archive), before leaping aboard the wings of and identical replica of the airplane built by Alberto Santos-Dumont, to showcase the classic Cartier Santos watch (first commissioned by the Brazilian aviation legend in 1904). The panther finally lands in Paris, the birthplace of Cartier, on Place Vendôme where he meets supermodel Shalom Harlow at the Grand Palais.

The film, Cartier’s first genuine foray into the world of screen advertising will be shown at 800 UK cinema screenings and on television in 12 countries around the globe including the US, China and South America. “We want to build up an awareness of Cartier worldwide to give us hige impact around the world,” Bamberger explained, “It’s not a commercial decision, more a celebration of our history and a chance for us to bring that to a wider audience”.

L’Odyssée is the the work of a vast team led by leading advertising film director Bruno Aveillan. He was supported by a crew of 60 on location, with a further team of 50 special effects technicians working on the post-production for six months. An original score was composed by Pierre Adenot, and the red dress worn by Shalom was custom-made by young Chinese fashion designer Yiqing Yinwith, while a total of three panthers were used for filming due to strict animal welfare laws.

Source: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/columns/belinda-white/TMG9123145/Cartier-debut-short-film-LOdyssee-de-Cartier-to-celebrate-their-rich-history.html

Cartier recalls its heritage with first film

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 14:30:13 +0000

Cartier recalls its heritage with first film

LONDON | Thu Mar 1, 2012 4:51pm GMT

(Reuters) – French jeweler Cartier launched its first film on Thursday to set itself apart in an increasingly crowded luxury market by highlighting its 165-year heritage.

L’Odyssee de Cartier, which will be streamed on Facebook on March 2, followed a panther, Cartier’s symbol since the 1930s, travelling across Russia, China and India and coming across some of the brand’s most famous historical pieces.

“We thought it was time to do it, especially because now everybody wants to be luxury…even a Big Mac is deluxe,” Francois Le Troquer, managing director of Cartier UK, said at a preview in a room designed like the inside of a Cartier box above its boutique in London.

The film was made to highlight Cartier’s history with the three countries, which are now important luxury markets, although Le Troquer stressed that Europe was the “continent of luxury” and the United States and Japan remained key markets.

The movie showed a bejeweled panther in a Paris shop window springing to life to run through the snow in Russia, where Cartier was jeweler to the tsars, before encountering a dragon at the Great Wall of China.

The panther made a final stop in India and then flew back to Paris with Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, who received one of the first wristwatches for men from Louis Cartier in 1904 when he asked for something more practical than a pocket watch for flying.

“The world is changing, the economy is changing, the geography of luxury is changing. We want to just remind people who we are at Cartier,” Le Troquer told Reuters.

The three-and-a-half minute film, which was directed by Bruno Aveillan and features model Shalom Harlow, took two years to make. It will be broadcast on other websites, in cinemas and on television later in the month after its Facebook launch.

“If a brand like Cartier does not do YouTube or Facebook, it’s like we’re dead,” said Le Troquer.

(Writing by Clare Kane, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/03/01/us-cartier-film-idUKTRE8201K420120301