Burnishing Cartier’s ‘Luxury of the Invisible’

If you’ve got it, flaunt it seems to be Cartier’s mantra lately. The house, which has one of watchmaking’s most enviable archives, has been revisiting the most stylish of its horological greats — like the Panthère in 2017 and the Pasha in 2020, two watches first created in the 1980s.

Overseeing this vision is Marie-Laure Cérède, creative director of watchmaking, who calls Cartier her maison de coeur, or the house of her heart.

“This is a treasure in terms of archives, in terms of latitude of work. You can do so many things,” Ms. Cérède said in a video interview. She was dressed in a puff-sleeve top with a textured monochrome print, and her fingers were looped in gold, a Cartier Love and a panther among the rings.

“I’m very curious and have eclectic taste,” she said, as she reeled off some of her many inclinations: a fondness for Italian midcentury furniture, particularly tables by Carlo Scarpa and Gae Aulenti; her attraction to the philosophy of wabi-sabi, finding beauty in imperfection; her decoration tastes (“I love noble and living materials — woodwork, natural stone, handmade fabrics”) and love of the rich flora, fauna and “authentic landmarks” of Africa, where she spent her childhood.

It was Cartier where Ms. Cérède began her career in 2002 and, after spending 12 years at Harry Winston, returned in 2016. Since 2017 she has been responsible for Cartier’s full watchmaking repertoire, which now includes the Privé collection of vintage reinterpretations; the Libre line, focused on women who are watch collectors; high jewelry pieces, and all its new introductions.

A large-size Tank Must watch in steel is part of Cartier’s new entry-level line. It is a reimagining of the Must that was introduced in 1977.

This year, Cartier’s big revisit is the Tank Must, created in 1977. It was the latest in the house’s popular Tank collection, introduced in 1917 as one of the world’s first wristwatches.

Its storied past made the Must’s reissue particularly demanding and difficult, Ms. Cérède said.

“When you start from nothing, from scratch, you free your creativity,” she said. “Starting from something that is existing, that the insider knows very well — and that the young generation are waiting for — is clearly the most difficult exercise. It’s a question of tension and attention — you need to be very precise.”

The original Tank Must, made in vermeil, a term for silver gilt, was less expensive than the top-end models. “The 1970s represented a moment where we put an end to old, conservative luxury,” Ms. Cérède said. It was the start of a new era and a kind of reboot, she added, much like how the pandemic has been now.

The new Tank Must collection includes 15 models, all in steel and with a starting price of $2,480, replacing the Tank Solo as Cartier’s new entry level line.

The new Must’s design is classic, with Roman numerals, but with the choice of three pared-back dials in deep red, blue or green. Most noteworthy are four versions powered by Cartier’s new SolarBeat photovoltaic movement, where solar energy reaches the caliber, or watch engine, through invisible perforations in the Roman numerals.

Two years in development, SolarBeat will have an average life span of 16 years, according to the brand. And the watches are complemented by a new strap that is about 40 percent plant matter, made from apples grown in Switzerland, Germany and Italy.

Both elements were firsts for Cartier and, Ms. Cérède said, were crucial to incorporate into its biggest introduction of the year. “If we were going to relaunch the Tank Must, we needed to add something for the new and young generation. We needed to refine — to have this product in movement. This,” she said, “is ‘living heritage’.”

Eric Wind, a watch dealer and founder of Wind Vintage in Palm Beach, Fla., was working as a specialist at Christie’s in 2017 when the auction house sold Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s 1962 gold Tank for more than six times its low estimate.

Asked about the new Tank Must, he said he was surprised by Cartier’s choice — “The Must de Cartier line of watches were the least desirable Cartier watches ever made,” he said — but he added that the house’s recent track record with reissues has been done “perfectly right.”

Five years ago, he said, “there was zero in the catalogs that interested any serious watch lover.” But interest in Cartier has skyrocketed in recent years, he added, fueled in part by the reimagining of key designs like the Surrealist-style Crash and elongated Tank Cintrée.

A Pasha de Cartier watch with a diamond-set panther’s head.

Richemont, the Swiss luxury group that owns Cartier, does not disclose revenue by brand. But its most recent financial report — for the third quarter of 2020, ending in December — said sales in the Jewelry division, which includes Van Cleef and Arpels, had increased 14 percent year over year.

And as auction sales have boomed during the pandemic, Cartier’s vintage prices have benefited. In December, a circa 1991 yellow gold Cartier Crash sold online at Christie’s for $225,000, setting a new auction record for the model (prices of new Crash models start at $36,000).

James Marks, international watch specialist and a director at Phillips auction house, said that Cartier watches like the Crash are really holding their own in the market.

“In a world today where we are surrounded by stainless steel sports watches on the one hand and ultracontemporary pieces like Richard Milles on the other, Cartier sits somewhere in between,” he said. “It links very avant-garde design with the traditional.”

Cartier’s appeal also has been burnished by its celebrity history, especially its links to royalty. Princess Diana owned two Tanks, and Cartier watches also are worn by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex; Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge and her sister Pippa Middleton Matthews.

Francesca Cartier Brickell is a descendant of Cartier’s founder and author of “The Cartiers: The Untold Story of a Jewelry Dynasty.” She said in an email that the classic design and quality of Cartier watches made them timeless. “They look as stylish today as they did 100 years ago,” she wrote, “and as good worn with a suit as with a pair of jeans.”

Or, in the words of Ms. Cérède, who approves every new Cartier that comes out of the manufacture: “A Cartier masterpiece should be a signature in a single stroke.”

And they must be imbued with meaning, too. “Every Cartier watch has something to say. This is a final question we have when we look at the design,” she said. “We need to elevate the emotions from artistry.”

A new bell-shaped Cloche de Cartier watch in platinum with diamonds. When placed on its side it works as a desk clock.

Both Mr. Wind and Mr. Marks said that collectors don’t associate Cartier with movements, but with recognizable design.

And Ms. Cérède agreed that design has always come first at the house. “It pervades everything,” she said, adding that Cartier is about the “luxury of the invisible,” with technique at the service of the design.

She referred to a new skeletonized Pasha with a diamond-set panther’s head that has been fully integrated with the underlying movement. “Our first intention was to give attitude to the panther,” she said. “But we had to respect all the necessary points implied by the movement.”

Looking ahead, Ms. Cérède said her ambition was to increasingly infuse Cartier’s jewelry savoir-faire with watchmaking (“We are a jeweler before being a watchmaker, for sure,” she said).

She cited one of Cartier’s newer designs, the Maillon, introduced in 2020 and featuring a hexagonal-shape case that was fully integrated with its chain-link bracelet.

Mallion was starting to be “a third object — neither a watch, neither a jewel,” she said — and perhaps a subtle hint as to where Ms. Cérède might take Cartier’s living heritage next.