Cartier Santos de Cartier
An all-time pioneering icon, updated
Cartier’s Santos has an impossibly glamorous heritage, combining luxury French watchmaking with the pioneering days of early aviation.
“Louis Cartier is known as the inventor of the modern wristwatch,” says Laurent Feniou, managing director of Cartier UK, “which he designed for Alberto Santos-Dumont, an aviator and tremendous character.”
Santos-Dumont, a visionary Brazilian inventor, piloted the first hot-air balloon flights in 1898 and built several aircraft, including the predecessor of the aeroplane, “La Demoiselle”, in 1907. Through Cartier and Santos-Dumont’s friendship, the latter’s not-unreasonable complaint that it was inconvenient to check the time on a pocket watch while flying led to Monsieur Cartier’s invention, the Santos, in 1904. With its distinctive square bezel, redolent of the foundations of the Eiffel Tower, it was an instant and enduring success.
In 2018, the iconic watch has received an upgrade. “The new Santos is a trifecta of design, functionality and technical improvements,” says Feniou. “Design, because the historical codes of Santos [square shape and visible screws] are again reinterpreted and complemented by a new bezel seamlessly integrating case and bracelet, and redefined proportions, where every millimetre and every gram was carefully engineered to offer the best comfort on the wrist.”
There’s function to match the timepiece’s eye-catching form, too. The new Santos is water-resistant to 100m and resistant to magnetic fields; it contains the calibre 1847 MC, which features anti-magnetic nickel phosphorus components in the escapement and movement mechanisms, as well as a shield made from a paramagnetic alloy. The strap adjustment is neat, too. “The patented QuickSwitch interchangeability system enables you to change the strap of your Santos without any tools, in an instant, to fit any occasion and any taste,” says Feniou. “And the patented SmartLink system enables you to adjust the size of the metallic strap link by link, again without any tools and in seconds.” Looking to the future, while honouring the spirit of the men who were instrumental in its creation, the Santos is a fittingly modern interpretation of a horological classic.
£5,900; cartier.ch