Comments on: Cartier: Jewellery or Haute Horlogerie?

By: Geo

Geo — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:07:34 +0000

Cartier watches can be seen as jewellery and as haute horlogerie. In the past the brand was rmore famous for it’s jewellery watches, but when in 1998 the high end series Collection Privéé was introduced the brand established itself as a very serious watchmaker.

The collection was based on historic models like the Santos Dumont, LC Tank,Tortue, Tonneau and LC Ronde and the watches had handwound movements by Piaget, JLC and Fredric Piguet. Cartier is even going a step further with the release of the Ballon Bleu Flying Tourbillon.

@Peter
The BB Flying Tourbillon has an inhouse movement, not a JLC like the Pasha 42 Cartier bought the watch making section of Rogier Dubuis in 2007, so their capacity is quite strong.

I wonder why you said: “the service leaves much to be desired” Cartier is part of the Richemont Group and they have a huge service center in Amsterdam, with very qualified watchmakers. And in case there really is a problem, that can’t be fixed, the watch is send to Swiss. You don’t need to like the brand, but their technical service is excellent.

By: Robert-Jan

Robert-Jan — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:19:05 +0000

Thanks for your comments all.

@Kristian: I am curious to see what Cartier will bring us this SIHH. Cartier has my attention since I have seen a few in person.

@Martijn: Good point about the other ETA brands. However, I was triggered by the listprice of a Tank Francaise with an ETA movement that was over the price of a Rolex stainless steel watch. I also believe that Omega is not far away from that price with their inhouse movements. Anyway, like you say: Cartier has legendary designs that should be (or already are) considered cult watches.

@J.Peter: Thanks for your comments. I don’t want a watchmaker to have my brand new watch regulated ( Is your comment about poor service also based on these accuracy problems or ….? Can you tell us something more?

By: Martijn

Martijn — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:22:39 +0000

To me Cartier is an indisputeble part of watchhistory. They where one of the first to produce a wristwatch and have legendary designs like the Tank and Santos that are just as recognizable as the Royal Oak, Nautilus or Datejust.

Regarding the price-range in which they sell the majority of there watches I dont see any difference with other famous brands. Omega, IWC, Breitling, Chopard etc. all use ETA-based movements. But some Pasha models even use movements from Girard-Perregaux and Frederic Piguet, just as Cartier’s topline the Collection Privée. All together I dont think that there is that much difference between Cartier and other major Swiss watch manufacturers. Maybe it was the Must-series that let the brand escape from the eye of most watchenthousiasts, along with there marketingstrategy which brings a broad arrey of luxury products of which watches is only a part.

By: Kristian Haagen

Kristian Haagen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:03:44 +0000

I believe we will see a lot more haute horlogerie from Cartier. Especially since Richmont took over Roger Dubuis. The Ballon Bleau Tourbillon is pure RD, and I bet we will see more complications this coming SIHH.

By: J. Peter

J. Peter — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:21:00 +0000

Cartier is a definite mixture of jewelry and fine watchmaking. Their styles change every year but they do have some classic looks. I agree on the Balon Bleu, it is stunning. I especially like the rose gold version. As for their movements: They do a good job of finishing the ETA movements and a poor jon of regulating them. Your watchmaker can fix the timing issue but they probably can’t get parts. Their high end models like the BB Tourbillon and the 42mm pasha use LeCoultre movements. For style these are great watches but the service leaves much to be desired. I like a watch company that supports their product and the qualified watchmakers who work on them.