I’ve never wished to be richer than the day Cartier releases its annual novelties and this year is no different as the French-founded watch and jewellery firm debuts one of its most exciting collections in recent years. It’s one of the larger collections Cartier has released in recent times, with Watches & Wonders 2023 seeing a new member of the ultra-exclusive Cartier Privé range, Santos’ galore and some stunning new Tank watches. Let’s get into the highlights.
Highlights From The 2023 Cartier Collection
Cartier Privé
The Cartier Privé collection serves as a bridge between the past and present in the world of Cartier, breathing new life into archival designs and updating them with contemporary movements and a touch of modern flair. As the seventh edition within the Privé range, this new line-up of Tank Normale watches is all the evidence you need that doing simple things well is far from the easy task it might appear, with examples in both yellow gold and platinum that are each available on a leather strap or bracelet of their respective precious metals (all four of which are limited to 100 pieces each), as well as a trio of skeletonised watches.
A great bit of Cartier trivia is the red ruby crown that you see here indicates a platinum watch, a handy differentiation from similar watches in white gold or steel. In the case of this platinum Tank Normale, the red crown brings some warmth to an otherwise cool visual impression, while the yellow gold is quintessential Cartier with blued steel hands that match its own blue sapphire crown. Other great details include the slightly domed sapphire over the dials and the hidden “1917” signature in the 7 o’clock Roman numeral as a nod to the date of its original Louis Cartier design. The case dimensions are 32.6mm long, 25.7mm wide and just 6.85mm thick, with 38 hours of power reserve.
The skeletonised Cartier Tank Normale watches are distinctly more contemporary, with an unusual 24-hour dial where the minute hand makes its typical 60-minute revolutions while the hour hand makes the same journey just once a day. This complication is emphasised by the gradual shift in colour of the minute track from light in the top half, to dark in the bottom half, as well as the lower section left un-skeletonised to represent night. The yellow gold and platinum versions are limited to 50 pieces each, while the diamond set example is a limited edition of just 20 pieces. The case dimensions are 35.2mm long, 27.8mm wide and just 8.15mm thick, with 36 hours of power reserve.
Cartier Santos
The ever-popular Cartier Santos collection is expanded this year with the addition of a deep green dial to the classic steel line-up, as well as a trio of XL-sized precious metal limited editions with Breguet hands and stone inlaid Roman numerals that match their crowns. The green dial Santos in steel will be available in Medium (35.1mm diameter, 8.83mm thickness) and Large (39.8mm diameter, 9.38mm thickness) sizes, both of which are powered by the automatic 1847 MC calibre with 42 hours of power reserve, feature adjustable “SmartLink” bracelets that can be swapped out with the QuickSwitch bracelet removal system and are water resistant to 100m. Proper sports watch stuff.
The limited edition XL (46.6mm length, 33.9mm width, 7.5mm thickness) models are a little more special with just 200 examples of each to be available. There’s an edition in rose gold with green jade numerals and matching crown cabochon, a yellow gold version with blue dumortierite numerals and a blue sapphire cabochon, while the third and final reference in platinum has red jasper numerals and a ruby cabochon. All are powered by the automatic 430 MC calibre, feature 30m of water resistance and arrive on variously coloured alligator-skin straps.
Cartier Tank
The Cartier Tank is another collection that has a suite of new references in 2023, with highlights coming from its Tank Louis Cartier and Tank Américaine sub-collections. The new Tank Américaine range is slimmer than its predecessors, arriving in a quartz-powered Medium size (35.4mm long, 19.4mm wide, 6.8mm thick) and a mechanical 1899 MC calibre-powered Large model (44.4mm long, 24.4mm wide, 8.6mm thick) that are both available in steel or rose gold. Featuring the elegantly curved case shape that was originally inspired in 1989 by the Tank Cintrée from 1921, it’s a timeless design that demonstrates balanced proportion from every angle.
The new Tank Louis Cartier range offers a quartet of new watches, two of which feature geometric, almost pixellated motifs across their dials while the other two bring the rich burgundy and forest green tones of the Tank Must line to the mechanically-powered precious metal collection. Apart from one of the geometric motif dials executed in rose gold, the other three examples are hewn from yellow gold, with all arriving in the Large size (33.7mm long, 25.5mm wide, 6.6mm thick) powered by the manually wound 1917 MC movement and are paired with alligator straps.
