A Calibre Of It's Own

Evan Rast examines Cartier’s quest for luxury supremacy: how a sprawling new facility and nine exceptional timepieces attest to the brand’s excellence

At the end of 2009 Cartier presented a concept watch called the ID One, a showcase of the advancements that the manufacture had been working on: a watch with no regulation, no lubrication, and an escapement with a minimal +/-1 second daily deviation for the life of the movement. Yes, apparently the company had discovered the ‘elixir of life’ for mechanical watches. Fitted in the Ballon Bleu case, the ID One features highly unorthodox materials and construction including the use of carbon crystal (synthetic diamond) and Zerodur (a zero- expansion glass ceramic) for the main regulating organs, and patented designs for the hairspring, pivots and wheels. Although Cartier has denied plans of ever mass-producing this watch, it is certainly a sign of things to come, not only for the brand but for the industry as a whole.

This year, Cartier has continued its strong direction, with the release of five new in-house movements housed within nine different models:
The Santos Dumont Squelette is fitted with the calibre originally used in last year’s Santos 100 Skeleton, which features a movement designed from the ground up, where the bridges and baseplate double as a skeletonised Roman numeral dial. The slimmer and smaller Dumont case obviously fits the movement better, making the dial appear larger, and the watch better balanced.
A second skeleton watch was unveiled this year, the Rotonde de Cartier Flying Tourbillon. The 9455 MC calibre is pretty massive in its 45mm case, but the open space on the dial provides enough light going through the movement to produce quite a striking picture with the flying tourbillon cage at 6 o’clock.

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