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Cartier La Panthère de Cartier

LUCCA, Italy — Entering the Villa Reale di Marlia here, one could easily have believed you had just stepped foot into the world of “Bridgerton.” The 17th century estate, complete with a lush park punctuated by sculptures, lemon gardens, a small lake and the sound of a quartet of violins filling the air, is a lesser-known Italian beauty that has eluded the attention of even many locals.

The picture-perfect spot and idyllic mood came second only to Cartier La Panthère de Cartier new high jewelry collection that was revealed in the villa’s frescoed halls on Wednesday.

After taking press and top clients to Lake Como two years ago, the company returned to Italy, opting for the Tuscan town of Lucca, a 90-minute drive from Florence, to showcase more than 80 never-before-seen pieces.

Talking with WWD, Arnaud Carrez, senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Cartier International, offered several reasons that prompted the decision. He pointed to the long-lasting relationship Cartier has with the country and the pivotal role of the Italian market, both in terms of business and image building. As reported, the company’s ties here have been recently strengthened with a new plant in Turin, which added to frequent product launches as well as to Cartier’s involvement in the artistic and cultural tissue of the country via the sponsorship of the Venice Film Festival and the partnership between Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain and Triennale Milano.

More specifically, the history of Villa Reale di Marlia itself intertwines with the brand’s. After being purchased by Napoleon’s sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in 1806 and being greatly renovated, the property passed to the Pecci-Blunt family in 1923. Through her social events, countess Mimì Pecci-Blunt started attracting artists, aristocracy and jet-set personalities to the location, ranging from Salvador Dalì and Jean Cocteau to Jacqueline Kennedy, to name a few.

“Many of our clients have spent a lot of time in this villa, especially in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The Pecci-Blunts used to be between Paris and Villa Reale and they hosted many parties with many of our clients attending it, so that’s a nice story for us,” said Carrez, crediting as further evidence a recently purchased book belonging to the family with pictures of such gatherings.

Dubbed “Le Voyage Recommencé,” Cartier La Panthère de Cartier high jewelry collection was meant to evoke this continuity as well, reinterpreting the brand’s own history through a contemporary filter for today’s customers.

Rather than choosing an overarching specific inspiration, Cartier’s director of high jewelry creation Jacqueline Karachi and the company’s craftsmen delved into the heritage and reinvented the core aesthetic codes of the house through unique pieces that hinged on interplays of geometries, volumes and new chromatic juxtapositions.

“It’s very consistent in terms of philosophy with what we’ve done in these decades in high jewelry and at the same time it has a new approach on the key themes,” said Carrez, mentioning architecture, nature and dialogue between different cultures as recurring references. “I think this collection pays tribute to this permanent quest for beauty and is again a true testimony of our ability to reinvent ourselves and being very true to our founding identity at the same time.”

Emblematic pieces in the Cartier La Panthère de Cartier collection were the Claustra platinum necklace covered in diamonds, including a remarkable 4.02-carat specimen standing at the center of its geometric and pointy structure. Onyx alternated diamonds and openwork further enhanced the game of perspective and volumes and nodded to Cartier’s signature black-and-white combinations that were first introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. Adding to the technical challenge, the piece was also transformable as the necklace could be split into two separate ones.

A similar transformable feat also defined the Girih necklace, whose central pendant showcasing an oval-shaped emerald could be detached and worn as a brooch. Nodding to Arab mosaics and palette through its geometries and charming color mix of green and turquoise, the piece was intended to celebrate one of the pillars of Cartier’s style — the Islamic art and architecture that Louis Cartier first discovered in 1903 through an exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

Ditto for the Panjara necklace in diamonds — including a rare brown type as centerpiece — and onyx, which was inspired by the light filtering through mashrabiya, a traditional Arab architectural element. Other Middle Eastern nods defined the Sama creation, evoking the dresses of whirling dervishes with its swirling structure in white gold and diamonds that converge around a 19.27-carat Ceylon sapphire.

Elsewhere, the Vespro necklace further built on the game of contrast between static structures and movement with its beaded tips, while the Panthère Givrée necklace celebrated the spirit animal of the jewelry house, introduced in 1914 by Louis Cartier. The realistic shape of the feline covered in diamonds with onyx spots and emerald eyes was flanked by a set of three aquamarines totaling 20.33 carats as well as lapis lazuli for a touch of color.

As usual, the design of each piece was determined by the features of the key precious stones. For example, a rare 0.92-carat gray-violet diamond stood out for sitting on the statement Ondule ring and inspired its bold appearance. Resembling the effect of throwing a stone in the water, concentric lines developed around the centerpiece, with the effect enhanced via diamonds cut in a half-moon shape.

With the appetite for Cartier La Panthère de Cartier high jewelry booming and Cartier’s commitment to improving ethical, environmental and social practices throughout the industry — as embodied by the partnership with Kering on the Watch & Jewelry Initiative 2030 — Carrez identified sourcing as the main challenge for the sector.

“It’s a constant challenge because we are obsessed about finding the nicest stones. We have some very strict guidelines criteria and we are committed to finding the most beautiful natural stones and at the same time to comply with principles not only in terms of quality, but also in terms of provenance,” said Carrez, mentioning decisions not to source from some countries, such as Afghanistan in the case of lapis lazuli. “Plus, with the market being vibrant there is a competition for sourcing precious stones, so the expertise of our buyers is so important… We have people from the stone purchasing department who have been with us for decades, so they have an extensive knowledge… and we’ve built some very strong and solid relationship with our partners. And the fact we have also this unique image in high jewelry, it helps.”

Without disclosing figures, Carrez underscored the dynamism and vitality of the high jewelry category impacts both Cartier’s key current markets — such as the U.S., China and Middle East — and new ones, mainly in Southeast Asia.

“We see new regions growing fast…A few months ago we organized an event in Bangkok and had clients coming from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and also Australia,” said the executive. South Korea and Japan, where the company has been focusing with dedicated events for the past decade, are also becoming increasingly relevant for the brand’s high jewelry business.

Carrez also noted that especially in these countries the average age of customers is lower compared to the established ones. In general, he said that already half of the brand’s overall customers are Millennials and Gen Z-ers.

“The share is already high and it’s even higher in some regions. Especially in Asia, we are already perceived as an aspirational brand… for watches, jewelry and sometimes for fine jewelry and accessories. When we look at Cartier’s iconic collections, they are by essence transgenerational, so they do cater to multiple generations. We are not obsessed about [young generations]. We cater to multiple clienteles, including young clienteles, but we don’t have specific collections for them and this is not our intention,” said Carrez.

Cultural and social factors are affecting the geographies of the brand’s high jewelry customers, instead. The executive noted that these kinds of pieces are more challenging to wear in Europe due to a reduced number of special occasions as well as the overall social and economic context, “inducing some of our clients to be cautious and have a more subdued approach,” he noted. Conversely, social events in the U.S., Asia and Middle East spark the demand for such creations.

“That’s why events like this one [in Lucca] are very important for clients. It’s not only for commercial reasons but they are also an opportunity to wear their pieces, which is very important for them,” noted Carrez.

To further celebrate the high jewelry collection, the brand will host a special gala dinner at the Giardino Corsini location in Florence with some of its international ambassadors in attendance.

After hosting top clients in Lucca and Florence, the Italian experience of the brand will continue in Milan with events dedicated to its VICs. Other activities in the country will see Cartier returning for the third year as sponsor of the Venice Film Festival, running Aug. 30 to Sept. 9, and next year taking part in the Homo Faber cultural event celebrating craftsmanship.

Also next year, a new production site in Valenza will be ready. It will be just shy of 55,000 square feet, for up to 180 employees, up from around 40 in the existing one in Valenza.

The Compagnie Financière Richemont-controlled brand has been directly manufacturing in Italy since 2013, when it purchased one of its partners, which itself had absorbed Turin-based jewelry atelier Marchisio, open since 1860.

Cartier currently counts nine manufacturing sites, including Turin, Valenza, its Paris high jewelry ateliers, as well as its Swiss watchmaking plants in La-Chaux-de-Fond and a historical 40-year-old facility in Fribourg.

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Cartier Baignoire

Geneva—For those who prioritize style over a watch’s mechanics, the revamped Cartier Baignoire is calling.

Created in the early 1900s, “baignoire” is French for “bathtub,” an allusion to the watch’s oval dial and sumptuous rounded oval bezel.

The 2023 quartz-powered version sees the bezel even larger, which is in line with the chunky gold metal trend seen in fine jewelry from the likes of Brent Neale or Jessica McCormack.

To make it even more jewelry-like, it’s attached to a bangle rather than a traditional watch bracelet, though there’s a black leather strap version, too.

It’s available in rose gold and yellow gold for $11,800 or white gold with full diamond pavé (seen below) for $48,800. With fashion and watch enthusiasts alike buzzing over the new Baignoire debuted at Watches & Wonders Geneva, expect it to join the ranks of Cartier’s most popular timepiece styles in the future.

Speaking of which, Cartier also showcased updates to its classic “Tank” timepiece.
It’s quite remarkable how a completely ordinary object can sometimes become the inspiration for a truly extraordinary creation. Cartier’s iconic Baignoire watch is one such classic example. It was in the early 1900s that Louis Cartier created the first model of this series by modifying the traditional round shape of the dial into an elongated oval form. His inspiration? The common bathtub, or ‘baignoire’ in French. While the initial shape of the early Cartier Baignoire watches was quite simplistic — two parallel lines joined by curves at the top and bottom — the appearance kept evolving with time. And it was in the 1950s that the more familiar oval form, currently popular across the world, came into being. It brought along with it a smooth, sophisticated gold border that wrapped seamlessly around a dial featuring Roman and Arabic numerals. This new Baignoire watch, with its classic elegance and feminine allure, was an instant, phenomenal success.

Over the years, while the design of the Cartier Baignoire watches has remained more or less true to this earlier version, the timepiece has, nevertheless, continued to evolve, not only in terms of new technology, but also aesthetically. The newer models in the Baignoire series, for instance, became increasingly glamorous, sensual and luxurious. Conveying a sense of effortless grace and French chic, the watches became a statement piece for women with a deep understanding of fashion. The rocking years of the 1960s brought in yet another creative innovation — the Baignoire Allongée. Born in the workshops of Cartier London, to the tunes of ‘Swinging London’, this new timepiece enthralled with its sleeker, longer shape that extended almost possessively across women’s wrist. Seductively refined, this alluring piece proclaimed its bold character with extravagant panache, by presenting a gold border liberally studded with exquisite diamonds.The original 1950s model and its variants, as well as the later Allongée models are all part of the current range of stunning Baignoire watches by Cartier Baignoire. The former comprises two versions — a small, yellow gold-rimmed model with a taupe alligator leather strap, and a 228-diamonds-encrusted model, set in a white gold case with a dark blue alligator leather strap.The glittering Allongée series comprises of several models, lavishly decorated with brilliant-cut diamonds, set in a white or rose gold case. The shimmering glory of these breathtaking timepieces is beautifully complemented by the quiet elegance of grey, taupe or dark-blue leather straps. Except in the case of one ravishing, white gold model that enhances the desirability quotient by offering a diamond-studded bracelet, as well — with 894 sparkling diamonds, this one is a true masterpiece among equals.

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Cartier Tank Normale

Each year Cartier fans watch in anticipation for the unveiling of the maison’s newest watch in the Privé collection, a selection of limited-edition numbered watches for what the brand calls “the collectors’ collection” of its most historic and “mythical models.” And nothing is more mythical than the Tank that started it all, the watch now joining Privé, the Tank Normale.
The original Cartier Tank Normale was designed by Louis Cartier in 1917 and released in 1919, taking cues from an overhead view the Renault tanks turning the tides of World War I trench warfare at the time. It’s a brutal (literally) inspiration for what would become one of the most iconic designs in watchmaking history, not to mention a jumping-off point for Cartier with its many variations of Tanks that would follow.

It seems fitting that after a long wait, the Normale joins those other variations (and other iconic watches) to bridge the gap between Cartier’s past and present, alongside the Crash, Tank Cintrée, Tonneau, Tank Asymétrique, Cloche, and Tank Chinoise.

This reissue of the Cartier Tank Normale has many of the iconic features of the original from 1917, with the same proportions and beveled sapphire crystal, a beautiful Roman numeral dial with inner railroad track and the 1917 date hidden in the VII numeral, and satin-brushed case and “brancards” that contrast against the polished chamfers.

The proportions are upsized from the original 27mm x 19mm to a more modern 35.2 mm x 27.8 mm. The yellow gold Normale comes with a blue sapphire cabochon and a brown alligator strap, while the platinum has a ruby cabochon winding crown with a black alligator strap. Each is limited to 200 pieces. But there’s more.
To bring this watch into the modern era, Cartier is making 50 more Normales in yellow gold and platinum with their signature skeletonized movements, both of which feature color-matched accenting on the bridges of the 24-hour movement. That’s right, while the minute hand goes around once every hour as normal, the hour hand goes around the dial once every 24 hours.

To make matters more confusing, the 12:00 position is still at the top (unlike most 24-hour dials that start at midnight). Daylight hours are at the top half of the dial marked by sun-shaped bridges, night at the bottom with crescent moon accent.

And if that’s not enough, there are also 20 pieces announced of a diamond-set platinum skeletonized Normale as well. How wild. In a first for the Privé collection, the yellow gold and platinum Normale will both be available on matching metal bracelets – only 100 pieces each. For collectors or admirers of vintage Cartier, this is often seen as the pinnacle of historical collecting. The brushed satin case continues down to the brushed satin bracelets, nearly seamless without being completely integrated.
Pack it in, folks, with these releases I might as well be done with Watches & Wonders for the year. I’m kidding, but only slightly – this release was one thing I hoped to see from Cartier, and boy did the brand deliver and then some.
The Cartier Tank Normale has been a sleeper for some time, produced only for two years on its original release. And while the more masculine size of the Cintrée and bold design of the Crash made them collecting darlings, the Normale deserves credit for starting it all. I know a lot of collectors have been waiting for Cartier to kick-start the Normale again to round out the Tank collection, and I can’t imagine they’ll be disappointed.

Cartier is all about the details, and the choices like the satin-brushed brancards and beveled crystal immediately got love from collectors I spoke to since the announcement. The skeletonized option itself wasn’t out of left field, per se, but the 24-hour complication (inverted top to bottom, as well) was certainly a surprise.

I do wish the brand had used “Breguet” hands to harken to the original instead of the “epée” hands from the 1940s Normales. But that’s far less important than the design feature that really makes the piece: the bracelet. I am a Cartier Tank Normale bracelet nut. I’ve spent days of my life researching, studying, trying to understand the development of Cartier’s bracelets since the 1920s. A platinum Tank with this style of bracelet is – and I know this term gets thrown around too much but excuse me while I use it – my grail.

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Cartier Tank Américaine

Cartier introduced the Cartier Tank Américaine back in 1987 as a more modern, aggressive take on its signature model that dates back to 1917. For 2023, Cartier has updated the Tank Américaine to make it a little thinner, slimmer, and curvier. As with many Cartier design updates, these small changes make for slight, noticeable improvements to a classic design. It’s what makes the Tank the Tank, and why it’s looked more or less the same for more than a century.

The new Tank Américaine comes in three sizes: mini, small, and large, and two metals, pink gold and steel. If you want, you can add diamonds or a bracelet to the mini and small pink gold Américaines. There’s also a mini white gold with a bracelet and a lot of diamonds that Malaika’s already covered.
I spent most of my time with the large Tank Américaine in steel and pink gold, which measure 44.4 x 24.4mm (the small measures 35 x 19mm, the mini 28 x 15.2mm). While the smaller sizes are quartz, Cartier’s put an automatic movement in the large models. The most noticeable difference compared to the previous Américaine is the thickness: the new large model measures 8.6mm thick, down 1mm from the previous generation. When the Américaine was introduced in the ’80s, it was a reference to the Tank Cintrée, and making the new Américaine thinner brings it closer to this historical reference (even if the 100th anniversary Cintrée was a mere 6.4mm thick).

While it’s nice Cartier keeps an automatic movement in the large Cartier Tank Américaine (and I understand the target consumer probably values the practicality of an automatic), I’m prone to romanticizing a manual-wind Tank, and it would’ve been awesome to see Cartier say “to hell with practicality, let’s put a manual movement in the large and small Américaine.” This could’ve made the case even thinner, too, but now I might just be asking for a Cintrée in an Américaine’s clothing.

Other changes to the case and brancards (sides) make everything about the new Tank Américaine slightly slimmer, thinner, and sleeker. This all brings the Américaine just a little bit closer to the Cintrée, while still maintaining its own identity. While the previous large model was a bit big for my wrist, these changes to the case made it much more wearable. The small also worked on my wrist too, but I couldn’t help but think that the large wore like an Américaine is supposed to wear – larger, a bit cuff-like, but all the while draping to my wrist.
The other noticeable change on the new large Tank Américaine is the vertically brushed dial. The smaller versions still have sunray finishes, but Cartier’s opted for a different dial treatment for the large versions. It’s something Cartier also added to the updated Tank Française this year, and I think it works better on the large, long surface of the Américaine. It accentuates the shape of the watch and reminds me of some pretty sweet limited editions Cartier’s produced in the past few years (like the collection for Singapore Watch Club).
Oddly, Cartier did away with the medium Cartier Tank Américaine , a watch we took for A Week on the Wrist back when it was released in 2017. It leaves a bit of a hole in what I think might be the Goldilocks zone for a lot of people: The medium measured 41.6mm long, and now there’s a gap from 35mm (small) to 44mm (large). At least, it left me feeling a bit stuck in between. The small was comfier for me, but the large fit what the Américaine is supposed to look like, even if a touch too big for my wrist. That said, the slimmed-down case makes the large Américaine much more wearable than the previous version. Still, it left me wanting something in-between. But for many, the large size will work great.

And that’s also not to say there’s no historical justification for the sizing: The large Tank Américaine is about the size of a large vintage Tank Cintrée, and the small version is about the same size as the mid-sized vintage model. If the Américaine is supposed to reference the vintage Cintrée, it seems Cartier’s getting literal with its sizing too, and I can’t knock it too much for that. Cartier introduced the Tank Cintrée (literally “curved” in French) in 1921, the first curved case for the Tank. It was a very 1920s watch, and while the style fell out of favor soon after, it was eventually brought back and has remained a mainstay of Cartier’s catalog ever since. Nowadays, it feels like something of a crown jewel of the Tank collection: introduced in anniversary or limited editions that are as beautiful as they are hard to get. Because of its size, it’s also the Tank best suited to modern tastes.
But because the Cintrée is mostly reserved for the types of collections we collectively drool over on Instagram, the Tank Américaine is the curved Tank for the rest of us. It was introduced only in yellow gold in 1988, but when Cartier introduced it in steel in 2017, it became one of the best “entry-level” Tanks out there. The large steel Américaine will set you back €5,600 (about $6,100). It’s basically the same price as a Rolex Oyster Perpetual 36, and it seems like that’s a natural watch people would cross-shop this with, for the set who just want a nice, stylish watch with an immediately recognizable design that they can wear pretty much any day (the Cartier Tank Américaine has 30m of water resistance). As you might expect from Cartier, the Américaine comes on an alligator strap, but I can’t help but think it’d feel at home on something more casual.

This year’s updates to the Cartier Tank Américaine make everything about it a bit more Cartier. It’s just a little more slim, elegant, and wearable, but to many, the changes will hardly be noticeable. And that’s kind of the point.

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Cartier Santos-Dumont Squelette Micro-Rotor

Over the past dozen or so years, Cartier has made a habit of releasing attention-grabbing skeletonized watches. It started with the Santos 100 in 2009, and this year Cartier is introducing the Cartier Santos-Dumont Squelette Micro-Rotor Skeleton in a trio of metals.

The three skeletonized Cartier Santos-Dumont Squelette Micro-Rotor models are powered by Cartier’s new caliber 9629 MC, a micro-rotor caliber comprised of 212 components that Cartier says it took two years to develop at its manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

The centerpiece of the new Cartier Santos-Dumont Squelette Micro-Rotor Skeleton collection is the yellow-gold version, which will be limited to 150 examples. The case and bezel use blue lacquer, kind of like last year’s knock-out lacquered Santos-Dumont limited editions, and it looks just as nice. Alongside this, Cartier’s introducing a rose gold and a stainless-steel Santos-Dumont.

Aside from the movement, which, to be clear, is a huge aside, the skeletonized Santos-Dumont is familiar: The case measures 31mm and 8mm in thickness (“Large,” in Cartier lexicon), the bezel has exposed screws, and each model uses Cartier’s signature blue cabochon and blue steel hands.

Cartier’s in-house caliber 9629 MC is a beautifully executed automatic caliber. Most noticeable is the micro-rotor at 8 o’clock, in the shape of the Demoiselle, a series of lightweight planes designed by the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont himself (he was buddies with Louis Cartier, who designed the original Santos-Dumont wristwatch for him).  Never one to miss out on a little romance, the little model plane soars over a globe.

Since 2009, Cartier has been designing movements to be skeletonzied from the ground up, and it shows. Let’s remember that Cartier only re-introduced the Santos-Dumont in 2019 as a nice entry-level quartz watch.

Four years later, we’ve got a skeletonized micro-rotor Cartier Santos-Dumont Squelette Micro-Rotor – we’ve all come a long way. The lacquered yellow-gold version won’t set the watch internet ablaze like last year’s trio because of its limited nature, but the blue-and-gold combo just works together (I grew up watching Reggie Miller torment the Knicks while wearing the Indiana Pacers’ yellow-and-blue kits, but I know my Golden State, Notre Dame, Los Angeles Rams, and so many other fans will be nodding along in agreement). Sure, I could’ve done without the little model plane zipping around the globe (the micro-rotor), but that’s Cartier – weaving its historical narrative into its modern brand, sometimes even to a fault.

Every time Cartier does a skeletonized watch, it’s a little different. The caliber is structured to fit Cartier’s famous shaped watches  just so. The Asymetrique is different from the Cloche is different from the Chinoise; and nothing’s like last year’s Masse Mystérieuse. Sure, it’s a formula. But the magic’s in the execution.

By the way, this isn’t Cartier’s only skeletonized effort this year. This year’s complicated, skeletonized Cartier is a pocket watch that’s a minute repeater, flying tourbillon, and perpetual calendar. And it measures just 35mm. Seeing a beautiful modern pocket watch like this only made me appreciate the pared-back Santos-Dumont more.

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon

It’s kind of a tough time to be a tourbillon. Complications generally have at least a little bit of an air of let-them-eat-cake about them (okay, probably not the chronograph), but they can often get away with it for different reasons. Chiming complications can plead the undeniable craft which, even today, it still takes to make one; perpetual calendars can argue their connection to the cosmic rhythms of the Earth’s rotation and its annual journey around the Sun; the rattrapante chronograph can play the craft card (at least in its most classic version) and its greater utility than a standard chronograph. But the tourbillon? It’s long since been generally conceded by even its most ardent fans that you don’t need a tourbillon to get a more accurate watch. A lot of folks would argue that, strictly speaking, it’s not even a complication, inasmuch as it doesn’t display any additional information. Which is as good a rough and ready description of a complication as any – though it leaves out a lot of watchmaking which is indisputably complicated to do, including Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon watchmaking.
Still, tourbillons continue to fascinate watch enthusiasts and watchmakers alike – no less a master than Roger Smith has gone on record as saying he’d like to make one – and given the number of tourbillons of all kinds released every year, it’s clear that folks are still very much interested in owning them as well. As with most mechanical watchmaking, how you do it is at least as important nowadays as what it is you do, and a well-made tourbillon is still not only interesting to look at, but also a legitimate demonstration of watchmaking as an art as well as a technical exercise.
Jaeger-LeCoultre’s new Master Ultra-Thin Tourbillon Moon is a quite beautiful example of the genre, with some interesting additional technical features which help distinguish it from the rest of the crowd. The full-rotor tourbillon movement is a relative rarity – JLC caliber 983, which looks to be the JLC cal. 973 automatic tourbillon, but with the addition of a moon-phase and date indication. The date indicator is a centrally mounted hand, which has a neat little trick up its sleeve (one we’ve seen before from JLC), which is that at midnight on the 15th, it jumps from one side of the aperture for the tourbillon to the other, landing on the marker for the 16th. This is to keep the date hand from partially obscuring the view of the flying tourbillon (and it gives owners a reason to stay up until midnight on the 15th, too). The main moon-phase display shows the Moon as seen from the Northern Hemisphere, but there is also, around the main display, a double-sided hand that shows the moon-phase in the Southern Hemisphere on the left, and the age of the Moon on the right.
This Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon is a complicated tourbillon in a pretty classic idiom. The round, rose-gold case is 41.5mm x 12.10mm. That does not, at first, sound particularly thin these days – not with the number of extremely flat tourbillon movements that have debuted over the last decade or so (and culminating, of course, with the Bulgari Octo-Finissimo Tourbillon Automatic). The case alloy is JLC’s proprietary Le Grand Rose alloy, in which a small amount of palladium is added to help resist corrosion and discoloration. (Rose-gold alloys stabilized with metals from the platinum group have become increasingly popular in the watch industry since the introduction of Everose by Rolex in 2005.)
However, it helps to keep a few points in mind. The calibers 983 and 973 are full-rotor self-winding tourbillons – this is a surprisingly rare sub-genre in the world of automatic tourbillons which have tended, especially as the race to produce extra-flat tourbies heated up, to have either micro-rotor (the Piaget caliber 1270P) or peripheral rotor designs (Bulgari, Breguet). There are other full-rotor tourbillons – most recently from Audemars Piguet in the Code 11.59 collection. AP’s Code 11.59 Flying Tourbillon uses the central rotor caliber 2950, and it’s the first time AP has had a central rotor flying tourbillon in its collection – in a watch which, with no complications, comes in at 41mm x 11.80mm.

A full-rotor design is always going to be thicker than a micro-rotor or peripheral rotor design, and the JLC manages to be just 0.30mm thicker than the Code with the addition of the moon-phase display and date. That said, I don’t think this watch is going to necessarily make anyone emit a low whistle of wonder at its slim profile, but considering the fact that the very flattest automatic tourbillons, with peripheral or micro-rotor winding systems, are roughly 5-7mm affairs, a 12.10mm-thick full-rotor complicated tourbillon ain’t too shabby.
You don’t usually think of tourbillons as the toughest category of watches ever to come down the pike, but the caliber 983, despite the lyricism of the dial, hands, and case, looks to be a pretty sturdy piece of kit. The lower bridge for the tourbillon has got all the reassuring solidity of a suspension bridge, and the rotor shares with the movement plate and bridges a general feel of overbuilt reliability not often found – okay, virtually never found – in extra-flat watchmaking.

Whenever a tourbillon comes out we (by which I mean me, I guess) have a reflexive tendency to talk about the fact that tourbillons are not the aid to accuracy today which Breguet intended them to be when he patented his invention back in 1801. But I think that consideration is probably less important in thinking about tourbillons today than appreciating them for what they are – a living fossil (I mean that in a good way) of horological history and one that is still relevant as an exercise in craft. They’re tons of fun to look at, too – I don’t know how many dozens of tourbillons I’ve seen over the last 20 years, but I still get a kick out of them. This one from JLC is not going after any records, nor it is offering anything groundbreaking technically, but it is a very attractive complicated tourbillon wristwatch with enough personality to stand on its own, without needing to stand on a podium to do so.

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Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar

In all the years that I’ve been writing about Jaeger-LeCoultre, I really thought that I’d seen everything at this point. Gyrotourbillons, ultra-thin watches, square Reversos (remember those? the Squadra, gone but not forgotten), lubricant-free high-tech concept watches (the Extreme LAB), complications of every description – well, the list is long. Apparently, however, there is one thing which I have not seen and which nobody else has seen either from JLC, and that is a complete calendar chronograph with moon-phase. Jaeger-LeCoultre says that they have never done one before, and they should know, but as Jon Bues wrote in his Introducing coverage it still comes as a surprise to hear it – if you’d shown me this watch without any introduction and said, “Hey, this is such a great watch and you’ve never covered it in all these years, what’s the deal?” I’d have blushed and felt as if I’d been both unobservant and derelict in my duties as a consumer journalist. This is all by way of saying, and I mean this as a compliment, that the new Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar looks as if it has been part of the JLC lineup for a long time. There are reasons for that, of course: The general layout of the watch is very much one intended to appeal to traditionalists, and the combination of these two complications is a traditionalist’s favorite as well. Perhaps the best-known vintage implementation is the hand-wound Valjoux 88, which was produced, at least for a Valjoux chronograph movement, in surprisingly small numbers. The first impression you get of this watch, therefore, is of a timepiece that, if new as a complication to its maker (which I still can’t quite believe) is certainly not new to watchmaking or to wristwatch design. The Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is part of the larger Master Control Collection, which was relaunched this year with redesigned cases whose basic profile was derived from JLC’s flagship complication for 2020 (at least so far), which is the Master Grand Tradition Grand Complication. That watch debuted with a slimmer profile to the lugs, which had also been opened up (although not actually openworked) with recesses along their flanks, as well as the case middle. The result was a version of the watch that seemed both more in line with the vocabulary of classic watchmaking, as well as more light and graceful. The recesses in the lugs and case middle haven’t been carried over to the Master Control line, and this is all to the good as it would seem affected in the context of these watches, but the sense of subtle grace is still present, helped along by a crisper transition from case to lugs, and a slightly more emphatic sense of geometry overall. If there is little or nothing to complain of in terms of overall aesthetics, there is also certainly nothing to complain of in terms of fit and finish. While Jaeger-LeCoultre takes a back seat to no one – and I do mean no one – when it comes to the high-end horological decorative crafts sometimes referred to collectively as metiers d’art, there is another, more accessible, and just as important side to its character, which has to do with unostentatious excellence in daily wear mechanical watches. The case details in the Master Control Chronograph Calendar are not an overt paean to the decorative potential of steel; rather, they are intended to form a frame which, while it does not distract from the functionality of the watch, at the same time offers a reassuring sense of solidity and attention to detail should you wish to inspect the watch closely. I think the dial of the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is exceedingly beautiful and well organized. There are no tricks being played here, in particular – just good, solid, clarity of design. This could indeed easily be mistaken for a complicated gent’s watch from the 1950s, although one thing that gives away the modernity of the watch is the crispness and clarity of the printing and dial furniture, as well as the equally crisp starry background to the lunar disk on the moon-phase display. I think that the dial works as well as it does as much for what JLC decided not to do, as for what it decided to do. The only slight quibble I have with the dial overall is that against the white dial, the highly polished hour and minute hands can sometimes be slightly difficult to pick out, but I certainly didn’t find that to be a fatal issue in terms of on-the-wrist legibility and utility.

The urge to fiddle for the sake of fiddling is very often on display in modern watchmaking, and it seems to become more and more noticeable and less and less successful as prices increase. The problem has always seemed to me to be at its most acute in chronographs, which seem to have the ability to bring out the worst in watch designers like no other complication. In this case, however, the level of detail feels entirely appropriate to the overall identity of the watch, and contributes a great deal to the impression that it gives of something intended to be a daily companion, and not just another more or less static addition to a collection. For a full evaluation of chronometric performance, we would have had to do a full Week On The Wrist (which I would very much like to do with this watch at some point; I think it merits it and then some), but there is no reason to expect anything other than excellent performance from the movement. The movement, caliber 759, a column-wheel-controlled, vertical-clutch mechanism; it also has a freesprung, adjustable mass balance, which has become more or less the standard in modern high-grade movements. It looks quite handsome and sturdy through the sapphire display back. The watch overall boasts very wearable-sounding dimensions – the case is 40mm x 12.05mm and water resistant to 50 meters. You could, of course, object that this would be an even more historically resonant watch in a smaller diameter, but after all, 40mm is hardly a Brobdingnagian dimension, and the width-to-thickness ratio makes for a watch you’d expect to feel quite comfortable on the wrist. And you would be right. This is an immensely pleasurable watch to wear, and I make no bones about it; I didn’t want to give it back. I don’t generally feel a terribly strong desire to actually own watches, largely because, for many years, it has been my privilege to experience so many of them; I suppose I am rather like a restaurant critic in that respect, who for all they are passionate about food may not particularly feel the itch to own a restaurant. But I think this would be a damned fine wristwatch to wake up to every morning, to look at during the day, to use to mark the passage of the months and moons, and to put down on the bedside table at the end of a long day and have its calmly purposeful, beautifully balanced countenance the last thing I see before lights out.

This brings us, inevitably, to The Unpleasant Matter Of The Bill; in steel, this is a $14,500 watch. I wish it were less expensive, but I think part of that may be because I have been around long enough to remember when, across the board, prices for fine watches from Switzerland were a fraction of what they are today, and I basically wish everything was less expensive. I probably ought to put my Zen Buddhism where my mouth is, though, and cultivate a spirit of, if not acceptance, at least resignation on that score; last I checked time’s arrow only points one way. However, even at that price, you are getting an awful lot: a watch with a handsome diffidence, which is rather rare these days, and which achieves an identity of its own without resorting to either rote aping of a vintage model on the one hand, or novelty effects on the other. Plus, you are getting a watch from one of the most important names in Swiss fine watchmaking, and one whose reputation is based on real horological content to boot – Jaeger-LeCoultre likes to remind us that the company is sometimes called the Grande Maison in Switzerland, but given the firm’s decades-long mastery of every kind of watchmaking imaginable, we should probably let them have that one. I think the greatest compliment I can pay the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Chronograph Calendar is to say that it does not feel like an attempt to broadcast affluence, or one’s good taste, or to pay homage to something in the glorious past, or to break new ground technically or aesthetically. It is not a showcase for some fantastically demanding craft kept alive through the dark years of the Quartz Crisis by a devoted few; it is not intended to be an Instagram trophy, and it will not (at least, I think not) produce years of frustration in its fans as they idle on waiting lists. Instead, it has a rare, sole ambition: It wants to be a watch, and a damned good one, and at that it succeeds admirably.

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Van Cleef & Arpels Sweet Alhambra Watch

The four-leaf clover is a long-celebrated talisman, but it was the French jewellery maison Van Cleef & Arpels that cemented it as a global symbol for good luck and great fortune when they brought it to life in gold and precious gemstones in the late 1960s.

The ‘ Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra’ collection is now internationally recognised; its signature sautoirs (long necklaces) are often spotted around the necks of tastemakers and trend setters, royalty and Hollywood’s finest alike. These long, low-swinging styles are just as easily paired with evening gowns as they are with jeans and a T-shirt, which is perhaps the secret to their enduring charm – the Alhambra has become synonymous with precious, laidback luxury.
Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra has historically celebrated luck, joy and optimism since it was founded in 1906, long renowned for its animated interpretations of flowers and animals. It was in 1968, however, that the four-leaf clover became a lucky icon for the house. Jacques Arpels, a nephew of one of the founding families, was especially enamoured with the concept of luck – he famously bestowed four-leaf clovers gathered in his garden upon his staff. His personal mantra, “To be lucky, you have to believe in luck,” inspired the maison to create a collection that saw four-leaf clovers edged with golden pearls, set upon chic sautoirs. It was conceived to introduce a new era of more accessible jewellery designs within the maison’s repertoire and became an instant success.

The name of the collection is derived from the Alhambra palace, in Granada, Spain, where Moorish quatrefoil motifs (four overlapping circles, much like the clover silhouette) adorn magnificent architecture with similarly detailed, intricate artisanry.
Van Cleef & Arpels is one of history’s most celebrated jewellers, founded in the high jewellery-making epicentre of the world, Place Vendome, Paris. The combined skills of lapidaries, jewellers, stone-setters and polishers come together to create each clover motif, requiring no fewer than 15 successive steps of craftsmanship. What makes the Alhambra collection so iconic is that it distils the haute joaillerie expertise of the maison into an everyday, wearable design that can be paired with a simple sweater.

Its enduring prestige is perhaps also bolstered by the evolution of sub-collections that play with colour, form and different dimensions; from the ‘Lucky Alhambra’ designs, which incorporate heart, butterfly, leaf and star motifs, to the ‘Byzantine Alhambra’ styles, which celebrate the clover silhouette in solid and openwork gold.
Since 1968, the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra collection has evolved with the passing eras, while remaining an elegant icon of luck. Today – for the first time – it welcomes four secret pendant watch models. They celebrate the poetry of a time that remains hidden, revealing itself when so desired on the chain of a long necklace. Alongside these unique pieces, two Sweet Alhambra watches are adorned with ornamental stones, complemented by the gleam of delicately beaded yellow gold. Four new creations are joining the Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra collection – which for the first time welcomes the notion of a personal time, concealed at the heart of the emblematic, four-leafed clover-inspired motifs. Following in the footsteps of the chain watches that appeared in Europe in the 17th century, these jewels that tell the time take the form of precious pendants, accompanying their wearer’s silhouette. They combine the Maison’s characteristically elegant jewellery style with its secret watch tradition. The time is revealed at will: a simple action pivots the stone-set motif to unveil the dial.
In 1968, Van Cleef & Arpels watch created the first Alhambra long necklace, inspired by the four-leaf clover shape. Like a harmonious token of luck, it was made up of 20 motifs in textured yellow gold, delicately fringed with golden beads. The symbol was an immediate success, establishing itself throughout the world as an icon of luck and emblem of Van Cleef & Arpels.

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Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose

The artists and artisans at Van Cleef & Arpels use their combined skills to create works that evoke awe and wonder, whether they’re depicting a landscape, a character, or a scene. At Watches And Wonders 2023, colorful enamel and intricate miniature painting breathe new life into the Lady Féerie watch. Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose surrounds its watchmakers with expertise honed through generations of tradition, shared fervor, and extensive practice. These masters put the high-mindedness of their knowledge to work for the Maison’s Poetry of Time, turning difficulties into breakthroughs.

Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose has been paying homage to the allure of fairies through magically enchanting designs since the 1940s. The Maison is now selling an updated Lady Féerie watch in a range of pink tones. Adding to the Féerie line, this Poetic Complications timepiece features a 33mm case of delicate proportions and combines watchmaking expertise with traditional crafts. In the gentle light of twilight, a fairy uses its magic wand to mark the passing of the hours.

She sits on a cloud of white mother-of-pearl and sparkles like a guardian muse in a dress of diamonds, pink sapphires, and a miniature painting on gold. Translucent pink plique-à-jour enamel and opaque pink enamel were used to create the powdery gradient that covers her wings. These methods, all used in the same Maison design, produce a play of light and transparency in the wings, which are framed with diamonds that were set minutely after the enameling was completed.

In a mother-of-pearl window, the setting sun welcomes the passing of the hours while a female figure with a diamond face points out the minutes with a magic wand. The watch’s underside reveals an engraved night sky with a full moon and stars on the watch’s oscillating weight. The enameled outlines of the clouds on the sapphire glass give the design a subtle shimmer.

Watchmaking, jewelry making, and other uncommon crafts give life to this lyrical setting. The Lady Féerie Or Rose has retrograde minutes and jumping hours in addition to a self-winding movement. This sophisticated movement in a 33mm Lady case required extremely precise design and assembly. The latter can hold a three-dimensional fairy thanks to a curved sapphire glass that serves as a pedestal.

In addition to maximizing light entry, it also helps to smooth out the watch’s profile. The dial displays the expertise of the Geneva-based Van Cleef & Arpels Lady Féerie Or Rose Watchmaking Workshops. The evening sky is painted with no less than four colors on an engraved mother-of-pearl background, ranging from pearly white to deep plum, with delicate gold and an intense fuchsia. To get this gentle gradient, Maison’s artisans tried and failed more than ten times. The plique-à-jour enamel used to decorate the fairy’s wings is a one-of-a-kind pink created by the Van Cleef & Arpels enamel workshop to complement the watch’s face. These exquisite pieces are a testament to Van Cleef & Arpels’ boundless imagination and collective brilliance.

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Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date

Have you ever wondered what a frozen dial would look like? Well, wonder no more, because the new-for-2022 Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date brings that aesthetic in not one or two, but three colorways. This watch is nspired not by tropical waters but rather by the glacial lakes of the Mont-Blanc Massif and the texture of glacial ice — let’s take an icy dive into the details. The case of the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date watch is in stainless steel on all iterations and measures 41mm in diameter and 12.9mm in thickness. That’s by no means unwearably thick, but it’s destined to have noticeable heft, which is offset by the 300-meter water-resistance rating, should you feel inclined to dive hundreds of meters down into freezing cold waters. For us desk divers, that’s just cool to have. Likewise, the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea is a “certified diving timing instrument,” according to the brand, conforming to the ISO 6425 norm. All that, plus each piece is subjected to the Montblanc Laboratory 500 Hour Test that assesses resistance to shocks, magnetism, temperature, and water pressure and “that their fasteners are reinforced for maximum security.” The hands and indices are all covered with white Super-LumiNova. Three shades for three types of ice is the theme, as the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date comes in blue, green, and black. Blue ice can be found in Mont-Blanc’s Sea of Ice and is created by the inclusion of air bubbles in the ice, while green ice is found in Antarctica and is the result of the presence of microscopic snow algae blooms. Black ice occurs when the ice has no inclusions or air bubbles, therefore absorbing enough light to appear black. It can also be turned black by deposits of volcanic ash in its structure; examples of which can be seen in the polar regions. So, now you can match your next luxury watch to your favorite type of ice. Montblanc, which refers to itself as a Maison, as does basically every one of the Richemont group’s watchmakers, says it had to go through several trials before finding a technical solution to create an impression of depth and luminosity reminiscent of that of ice: “The dial makers employed an almost-forgotten ancestral technique called gratté boisé as the base.” If you Google that, you’ll soon end up in a publication by Ferdinand Berthoud – so yeah, seems pretty ancestral to me. Montblanc admirably managed to maintain its focus on legibility: The indices and indeed the cathedral-style hour and minute hands are huge and appear to contrast in finish and texture neatly against the colored backdrop – all essential to achieving real-world legibility. The bezel is in ceramic and is neatly color-matched to the dial. Does anyone remember the day when colored ceramics were basically unimaginable and all-ceramic watch parts came in were white, black, and maybe some chrome-y gray? Well, gone are those days, thankfully, so now you can enjoy fade- and scratch-proof ceramic in highly saturated blues and greens. There is a stainless steel bracelet in “charcoal” and regular steel, each with a taper that goes from 20mm at the lugs to 16mm at the clasp and each with a quick-adjust system built in. Alternatively, each model can be purchased on a rubber strap. The only bottleneck with the Montblanc 1858 Iced Sea Automatic Date is its MB 24.17 movement, which is basically a Sellita SW200. Its 41-hour power reserve is basically the shortest in this segment, and although that is matched with self-winding and a modern 4 Hertz frequency, 41 hours really is just not long enough for anything other than a daily wearer. Weekend-lasting power reserves (i.e. those at least 3 days long) can’t arrive soon enough for more watches in this admittedly highly competitive segment.