Cartier's Tank Must Watches are based on the legacy of an icon
Cartier released a platoon of new Tank Must models last month at the Watches & Wonders virtual Geneva event, including a new quartz piece powered by solar-charged photovoltaic cells. All are expected to launch in stores in September and prices are subject to change.Louis Cartier, grandson of the founder of the house, created the Tank in 1917, at the dawn of the wristwatch era. Following in the footsteps of the legendary 1904 Santos square, the similar tank's rectangular case was said to replica watches be inspired by a bird's eye view of a Renault FT-17 tank, a revolutionary fighting vehicle used by the French in WWI worldwide .Vertical bars, or brancards (the French word for "stretcher"), extended beyond the central case evoking the tank treads that flank the turret. The design further solidified the Cartier design signatures: Roman numerals surrounding a central rail, blued steel hour and minute hands, and a knurled crown with a blue sapphire cabochon.
According to the brand's tradition, the tank prototype it was given as a gift to US General John Pershing, commander of the US Expeditionary Force in Europe, in 1918 at the end of World War I. The following year, Cartier produced six tanks for the market, and production remained. quite limited in the 60s.In 1922, Louis Cartier reworked the design, lengthening the case, refining the brancards and softening the edges to create the Tank L.C. (Louis Cartier), an enduring classic to this day. Tank entered the cultural zeitgeist when Rudolph Valentino wore his on screen in the silent film Son of the Sheik in 1926. Later celebrity fans included Gary Cooper, Catherine Deneuve, Jacqueline Kennedy (hers was bought by Kim Kardashain in 2017), Princess Diana, and Andy Warhol, who famously didn't get his. More recently, Tanks has been spotted on former First Lady Michelle Obama, Angelina Jolie and Meghan Markle.
The latest Tank Musts are named after the Tank Les Must de Cartier replica, which was launched in 1977 in response to the recession caused by the quartz crisis. Les Must de Cartier was a spinoff brand of more affordable “must-have” accessories, including watches in gold plated iwc replica sterling silver (vermeil) powered by ETA hand-wound or quartz movements. They had modern, minimalistic and colored dials in burgundy or black marked only with the Les Must logo and the house's interlocking Cs, as well as matching colored straps. As Cartier's first mass-produced non-precious watches priced at around $500, they were a huge success.