According to a Vanity Fair article, the Tank wasn’t called a “Tank” when Louis Cartier first created the watch. It didn’t even have a name. When clients visited Cartier’s salon, they simply picked up a rectangular watch. That watch would later be called the “Tank.” The Tank “was simply the answer to a practical question: How will men who need both hands free tell time? It was, as well, the answer to an aesthetic question: How do you make a wristwatch that isn’t just a small pocket watch on a strap?” While the Tank wasn’t Cartier’s first wristwatch (the Santos was), the Tank was the first wristwatch to solve the problem that consumed Cartier: how to attach a face to a band with complete conceptual integrity. As a jeweler, Cartier wasn’t concerned only with how a watch performs – he was also concerned with its design.
While everyone was dabbling with Art Noveau, Cartier brought modernism and purity of design to the Tank watch, where “less is more.” Vanity Fair describes the Tank watch as “unapologetically industrial and undecorated.” The Tank is an evolution of its predecessor – the Santos. With the Tank, Cartier did away with all the curves of the Santos and came up with a watch that is a perfect square. “The band is the exact same width as the face, its points of attachment (the lugs) hidden, because all elements are held in suspension between the two parallel brancards, which have the linear reach of a rectangle, continuing well beyond 12 and 6.”
Legend has it that the Tank was influenced by the war machine (the tank) that was first introduced during the First World War. But Franco Cologni, author of the book Cartier: The Tank Watch, writes that the Tank followed the design of the Santos watch. Louis Cartier publicized the watch as being influenced by the tank and gave the prototype to America’s General Pershing, thus further fueling the legend.
Cartier is a French jeweller and watch manufacturer that is a subsidiary of Switzerland‘s Compagnie Financière Richemont SA. The corporation carries the name of the Cartier family of jewelers whose control ended in 1964. Cartier SA is headquartered in Paris. The company has a long and distinguished history of serving royalty, as well as stars and celebities. Cartier ha been dubbed as the “Jeweller to Kings, King of Jewellers” by a former Prince of Wales. Cartier is at present the no. 1 seller of luxury jewellery in the world, and the no. 2 seller of luxury watches (after Rolex).
In 1904, the Brazilian pioneer aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont complained of the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while flying to his friend Louis Cartier. Cartier rose to the challenge, designing a flat wristwatch with a distinctive square bezel. This watch was not only a hit with Santos-Dumont, but also with Cartier’s many clients. Thus, out of this timeless design, the “Santos” was born. This was the first men’s wristwatch (Patek Phillipe made the first wristwatch, but for a woman and as a one-off).
In 1917, inspired by the newly introduced war machines on the Western Front, Louis Cartier designed the most notable Cartier watch, the Cartier Tank watch. This line too has survived, with over thirty varieties now being made.
In the early 1920s Cartier formed a joint company with Edward Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre) to produce movements solely for Cartier. Thus was the European watch & clock company born, although Cartier continued to use movements from other great makers. Cartier watches can be found with movements from Vacheron Constantin, Audemars-Piguet, Movado and LeCoultre. It was also during this period that Cartier began adding its own reference numbers to the watches it sold, usually by stamping a four-digit code on the underside of a lug. In fact, many collectors refuse to accept a Cartier as original, unless these numbers are present.
So, if you are looking to buy a genuine Cartier watch, you would know if it is original by checking the following:
All Cartier watches are numbered.
Verify authenticity by checking the number with Cartier SA.
The price range has to be in the $3,000 to $5,000 price range or more, unless these are being sold by a reputable company such as Amazon. Those that are in the $50 – $300 range are definitely fakes.
If the plating is fading or uneven in coloration, then you could bet that what got is a fake watch.
Check the spelling. Perfection is the hallmark of genuine luxury goods such as Cartier watches.
March 13th, 2010 
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