Cartier's latest collections combine tradition and innovation
At this year's Watches & Wonders, the Maison presents new collections that showcase their inimitable level of craftsmanship and artistic innovation.
“At Cartier, time is not what you measure, but what you treasure” — so goes the storied French brand's opening spiel at this year's Watches and Wonders. With that in mind, the Maison presents a wealth of new watchmaking creations that are all most certainly worth treasuring. Deserving the title of true oeuvre d’art, the vision behind this launch breaks the Maison’s novelties into four different categories, each focusing on iconic emblems of the Maison.
Each sub-chapter focuses on iconic House emblems and symbols such as the Pasha de Cartier, Panthère de Cartier, and brings back historical pieces like the Tank Chinoise, which celebrates its 100th anniversary. New models and colour combinations of classics like the Tank, the Panthère and the Santos were introduced, but most exciting were the new collections: The Coussin de Cartier, and the Métiers d’art.
The Coussin de Cartier watch is one made to be a sensational statement piece meant to embellish any evening look. Above all, it is distinctive for its square figure that is hemmed with diamonds set in a spiral. Based on the savoir-faire, the Cartier workshop introduced a triangular setting to the watch, which allows the diamonds to be directly integrated into the case without using a traditional grain setting, revealing the stone’s beauty and luminosity.
The Coussin de Cartier also knows how to play with duality. Its two-tone versions offer a choice of diamonds and black spinels, or Paraiba tourmalines and tsavorites, making the timepiece a true decorative element with plenty of character.
For an even more sensational release, the Coussin de Cartier watch also comes in two limited editions. The first being a creative piece featuring a soft case, flexible to the touch and entirely paved with diamonds, while the second features a stunning showcase of emeralds, tourmalines, tsavorites and sapphires.
Through the Cartier Métiers d’Arts collection, the Maison’s craftsmen want to explore and reveal new facets of the house’s techniques by drawing inspiration from African wildlife. Not only does the collection offer an incredible rendition of the Cartier Crash, a watch first created in 1967, featuring a revolutionary asymmetrical dial, the collection also showcases three new watches, combining Cartier’s expertise and figurative artistic approach.
The Ronde Louis Cartier Zebra and Giraffe watch features a hyper realistic black and white profile of a zebra on one half of the dial, and an abstract motif evoking a giraffe on the other. A unique and emblematic watch that represents the combination of two chromatic universes, two visions and two techniques.
The Ronde Louis Cartier Gold Enamel Fragments and Gold Beads watch, features patterns of fire and flames on a black background while still representing Cartier’s forever muse, la panthère.
The Ronde Louis Cartier Sparkling Panthère watch plays with a game of light and shadows to make the Maison’s panther subtly appear through an array of sparkling colours. This interpretation gives the feline a more masculine and graphic expression than ever before thanks to the use of intense black.
