Description
In the late 1960s Cartier Paris was in trouble, its client base was shrinking, as the younger set saw them as old fashioned and their original client base was slowly dying off. Salvation came in the form of two men, Robert Hocq and Anton Rupert who each licensed the Cartier name. Hocq who produced disposable lighters moved upmarket with the ‘Must de Cartier’ cigarette lighter, whilst Rupert licensed the name for a cigarette brand to go along with his well-established Rothman’s & Peter Stuyvessant brands. They were so successful with their licensed products that they were able to purchase Cartier, Paris – and, eventually both the other salons. Hocq’s head of sales Alain Dominique Perrin decided to expand the lighter range into other fields; sunglasses, scarves and handbags came first, but eventually he also brought out a watch with the name Must de Cartier. Made from gold plated sterling silver, they were a massive success becoming the Must have watch of the 1980s. Taking a cue from the success of the Swatch, the Must de Cartier Tank was released in endless versions for men and women, in a multitude of sizes, dial colours and finishes.
As the firm moved the brand ever further up market, trying to regain the exclusivity it had when it was a family owned business, the Must line disappeared from the catalogues; they have now become quite collectable, particularly the manual wind mechanical ones, like the present watch.
The case is sterling silver, which has been gold plated. It is a two piece case with a one piece bezel and case body and a separate back which contains the movement & dial, the two case parts are held together by four case screws.
The movement is the Cartier 78-1, which is actually an ETA 2512-1 a quite sophisticated 17 jewel movement, which had one very unusual feature, because the minute wheel was indirectly driven, the designers were able to fit an enormous balance wheel, which aided both accuracy and consistency.
The dial is the classic Tank style with radial Roman numerals, an inner ‘railroad’ minute track and simple blued steel index hands. The dial is a champagne colour, with black print.
The watch shown here is nice as it came with both boxes, the original strap & buckle and even the booklet folder.
The dial is 95+% whilst the case is 90% and movement is 95 %.
The watch measures 31mm lug to lug, it is 23mm wide and 6.5mm high, it takes a 17mm strap and the original brown Cartier lizard strap and gold plated buckle are still fitted.
SOLD
