Cartier Vermeil ‘Argent’ ref. 590002 from 2004

Brand history:
Cartier was founded in 1847 in Paris, by Louis-François Cartier when he continued with his master’s (Adolphe Picard) workshop by himself. 27 years later, in 1874, the son of Louis-François Cartier (Alfred Cartier) took over the company. The iconic worldwide iconic status of the Cartier brand however weren’t established by the Cartier company directors Louis-François- or later, Alfred Cartier. It were the three sons of Alfred Cartier (Louis-, Pierre- and Jacques Cartier), who made Cartier a world renowned jewellery and watch brand.

Alberto Santos Dumont, a pioneer aviator from Brazil complained to his friend Louis Cartier in 1904, he had trouble reading the time from a pocket watch while flying and testing airplanes. Therefor, Louis Cartier designed a thin wristwatch with a distinctive rectangular design featuring a manual wind movement. Alberto Santos Dumont preferred this watch above many other watches in that era, together with a clientele who followed in his opinion. The watch therefor was named after the ‘first-wearer’, ‘Santos Dumont’. This was Cartier first wristwatch, which still is in production today in many different sizes and variaties. This series of events could be seen as the start of the iconic Cartier identity, as the spirit of this first ‘Santos Dumont’ wristwatch can be seen in many other watches of the brand that followed, such as the Cartier Tank, Cartier Panthère and the Cartier Crash.