Text Annie Darling and Terence LimATTENTION
Every year, thousands of creations are launched
in Switzerland at the Salon International de la
Haute Horlogerie and Baselworld watch fairs. This year is
no exception. Many of these new off erings, while handsome
and worthy of investment, are tried-and-tested. But these
few caught our eyes for good reasonsGRABBING
THE GATEKEEPER
In his role as Cartier’s image, style and heritage
director, Pierre Rainero has got a lot to live up to. “My
role is to ensure that there is a consistent style across all
of Cartier’s products. This is a huge responsibility which I
don’t take lightly. Every decision I make, from approving—
or disapproving—a new design to adding novelties to
existing collections, is made in the name of keeping with the
Cartier style.”
Among this year’s new novelties, Rainero is pleased with
one timepiece in particular. “This year’s Santos-Dumont is
certainly something to be proud of,” he says. “It’s an exercise
of restraint, elegance and creativity while being faithful to
the original design.”
And design is what the new Santos-Dumont is all about.
With steel, two-tone and full 18K rose gold options to choose
from, the square case and thin profi le of the watch (it’s just 7mm
thick) mean it looks elegant regardless of material used. The
simple dial displays just hours and minutes in the classic Roman
numeral format, with visible screws around the bezel. The
Santos Dumont is powered by a quartz calibre but it is one that
the Cartier manufacture
in La Chaux-de-Fonds,
Switzerland, has tinkered
with to reduce its energy
consumption. Also, when
combined with a new
high-performance battery,
the movement can run for
approximately six years—
twice as long as a standard
quartz calibre.
The Santos-Dumont is
not the only novelty thatRainero is pleased with. He also takes great pride in the Libre
and Privé Tonneau collections.
“How we conceived the movement based on the shape
of the case is a testament to the kind of work we do in
watchmaking, where everything is done in the name of
aesthetics,” he says of the Privé Tonneau’s distinctive
barrel-shaped case. The Privé Tonneau Skeleton Dual-Time
watch stands out the most. While the original model is
equipped with two independent movements to power two
different time zone displays, the 2019 version, which still
displays two different time zones, is driven by just a single
movement. The elongated case means the wheels of the gear
train had to be arranged in a straight line from 12 to 6 o’clock.
“At Cartier, elegance is always the end goal,” Rainero says.
“Our main mission is not only to create beautiful objects;
we also need to ask ourselves: is the piece suffi ciently elegant,
or will it make the person who wears it look and feel elegant?
At the end of the day, that is what is paramount.”Cartier Privé Tonneau
Skeleton Dual-Time