Cartier Introduces The Rewind And Dual Time Versions Of Its Beloved Santos
Whether it’s the more elegant and classy Santos-Dumont or the sportier Santos de Cartier, Cartier’s Santos collection continues to be immensely popular. No wonder the French Maison adds a few new references to the lineup every year. Understandably, 2024 is no exception, and there are even a few surprise appearances here. What to think of a dual-time Santos de Cartier and a Santos-Dumont with an inverted dial layout, for example? Let’s take a quick look at these two highlights and other novelties within Cartier’s Santos collection.
Of course, I’m curious to see what all the brands have to offer at Watches and Wonders. But as the Cartier Santos Galbée XL is one of my favorite watches in my collection, I always pay a little special attention to the brand with the Roman numerals and square dials. Over the years, there have been many different iterations of both the Santos-Dumont and the Santos de Cartier. Somehow, though, La Maison always finds a way to surprise us again and again.
A limited-edition Santos-Dumont Rewind
Let’s start with the novelties within the Santos-Dumont collection, the first release being the Santos-Dumont Rewind. Its 31.5 × 43.5mm case is 7.3mm thick and comes in brushed and polished platinum. Material-wise, that’s already quite impressive. However, the real star of the show here — or quirk, for that matter — is the fact that this watch runs counterclockwise. Therefore, the signature Roman numerals are placed in reverse on the brownish-red Carnelian dial. It’s a layout that matches perfectly with Cartier’s inventive and timeless watchmaking philosophy.
This is not the first time Cartier has produced a watch that runs counterclockwise. Cartier collector Raffael Frenner already featured an earlier two-tone Santos Galbée with an inverted dial on his Instagram profile. It’s funny how you almost don’t notice the inverted dial. But once you see it, you can’t unsee it. The Santos-Dumont Rewind features a reversed 230 MC hand-wound movement. It powers the apple-style hour and minute hands and is controlled via the elegant crown, which, of course, is set with a red ruby. The watch comes on a brown alligator leather strap and is a limited edition of 200 pieces.
A colorful lacquer-coated trio
But that’s not the only platinum Cartier Santos-Dumont that’s debuting this year. Here’s another one with a sunburst dial in olive green and a matching ultra-thin, hand-polished layer of lacquer on its case and bezel. It’s part of a trio of colorful versions of the Santos-Dumont. They all have the same dimensions as the Santos-Dumont Rewind, and the other two versions come in rose and yellow gold. The rose gold case is combined with a peacock-blue sunburst dial and lacquer, while the yellow gold case is matched with a taupe sunburst dial and lacquer.
In contrast to the Santos-Dumont Rewind, these watches feature Arabic numerals and do indeed run clockwise. The sword hands are made out of the same material as the cases and are powered by the hand-wound 430 MC caliber. All three watches come with a matching alligator leather strap. Only the green version in platinum is limited to 200 pieces. All the abovementioned Santos-Dumont watches, including the Rewind, also have a 30m water resistance rating.
The Santos de Cartier Dual Time
Now we get to the really interesting stuff. It’s not that I don’t like the Santos-Dumont. I just have a slight preference for its sportier bigger brother. And this year, there’s a really interesting new sibling joining the Santos family. There have already been numerous versions of the Cartier Tank that could show an additional time zone. However, as far as I’m aware, there has never been a Santos with a dual-time complication. Well, now there is, and it’s called the Santos de Cartier Dual Time.
The stainless steel case measures 40.2mm wide, which is only 0.4mm wider than the “single-time” Santos de Cartier in the large size. The lug-to-lug length stayed the same at 47.5mm, and the thickness increased a little from 9.4 to 10.1mm. To me, those seem like very acceptable changes to the Santos’s size, especially when you take into account the added value of the dual-time complication. The second time zone is displayed by an additional hour hand on a concentric-grained sub-dial at 6 o’clock. The complication also includes a night and day indicator up top.
Apart from the polished Roman numerals, the Santos de Cartier Dual Time features a sunburst gray dial with a ton-sur-ton date indicator at 3 o’clock. Additionally, the minute track and hands all have an application of luminescent material.
Additional colors for the Santos de Cartier
In addition to the magnificent Dual Time, there are also a couple of new dial colors for the regular Santos de Cartier. The large Santos de Cartier in two-tone will now also be available with an anthracite sunburst dial. It comes with a matching gray alligator strap.
There’s also a new color for the all-steel Santos de Cartier in both the medium and large sizes. White/silver, blue, and green were already available, and now brown joins the collection as well. It has the same sunburst and fumé finish as the blue and green versions. All the Santos de Cartier models, including the Dual Time, come with a QuickSwitch bracelet and SmartLinks for easy strap switching and bracelet sizing. They’re also all water resistant to 100 meters.
My impressions
It’s exciting to see how Cartier keeps the Santos collection alive and kicking with surprising new versions of a watch that’s already been in the collection for so long. I’m particularly looking forward to seeing the Dual Time Santos de Cartier in person and finding out what it’s like to fiddle with that new complication. But I’m also excited to check out the new colors of the lacquered Santos-Dumont models and the Rewind with its Carnelian dial.
A two-tone rotation inversée special-order version of the Santos Galbée from 1996, and the Asia-only limited-edition Santos Galbée with a sunburst gray dial from 2002. Could these two watches have been the inspiration for some of Cartier’s novelties this year? — Image: Raffael Frenner
Unfortunately, we haven’t received any word on the prices of these watches yet. But for more information, please check out the official Cartier website.
Tell me what you think of these new Cartier Santos additions in the comments below.
