Fresh from the Showroom Floor - here at SwissWatchExpo. This morning we're
talking about Cartier one of our favorite brands.
The iconic house of Cartier started the watch world frenzy really with this
model - the Santos. Back in the early 1900s this was the first modern wristwatch, not
this particular model, but one that this one is a derivative of. And so we get a
lot of questions about Cartier, about all the different shapes they make, different
sizes sometimes it's a little unclear which ones are considered the big sizes
for today, which ones are the more classic sizes. So we have a few of the
classic sizes here - these are a little bit smaller maybe not every single time
that you wear a watch are you looking for a big chunky modern 44 millimeter
watch. You might be looking for something a little sleeker, a little bit more
dressy, something that's more in the style of what gentlemen more in the
1950s 60s 70s before the the giant watch craze kind of hit the world. So there are
different sizes within Cartier - they do a lot of different shapes and that's
really one of the hallmarks of the brand. As you can see here they really focus on
Roman numerals although they do have a lot of other dials available, as well one
of our favorites is the Panthere - this one came out in the 1970s. It's been one of
the most successful watches that they ever made. The Cartier Panthere is very
thin. It's a dressier watch when it's on the wrist, it wears very well it's real
easy to wear not obtrusive at all. It's not something that is going to
necessarily draw a lot of attention, but it just has that great vibe that you
might see from any of the movie stars that wore this watch. This was extremely
popular all through the 70s 80s and 90s. The next one that kind of rocked the
world for Cartier was the Tank Francaise - the French tank. This watch when it
was launched in 1997, it was the biggest single watch model line launch that
Cartier had ever done in their 150 year history. This one comes in various models,
different sizes, that are quartz and automatic. You can see it just looks
this one's steel and gold, it's an automatic movement, their dials are just incredible
at Cartier. They use a process that's called "Flinque" and what it is is a hand
engraved dial finish. It takes 40 hours to engrave a sheet of the dials, and then
they're printed with the Roman numerals down to the micro printing of the word
Cartier hidden in one of the numerals. Also in the Tank Francaise line, they
made a little bit larger when it still got the same kind of curve with the
wrists, so it fits real close to the wrist, it's a very nice easy to wear watch but
it does have a little bit bigger size and you can see it's got the chronograph
function built in. This one actually has a perpetual calendar as well. It's a very
complicated movement that they've packed into a tiny little case there as far as
fitting a movement to it. Next in size would be we'll come back to the Santos again -
this is the Santos Extra Large Galbee. "Galbee" means curved that this one
is curved with the wrists, all the links are curved, the case is curved and you
can see when it's on it's a little bigger than the other ones, but it's a
little thicker. It's certainly not in the same scale as the giant watches that
people have come out with the 40s and 50 millimeter type watches, it's a great
look with the combination of the brushed steel and polish. It's got the hidden
clasp here on the side you can see it's just a great look all around. The largest
of these watches that we're talking about today, that are all a little bit on
the more classic dressy side is the Roadter. Again when this came out, this
became the biggest launch they had ever done and it's a fantastic watch. It's a
Tonneau shape, which means that it's flat on the top and bottom, curved on the
sides like a barrel. Still has the Roman numeral dial. This one is engraved in a
circular pattern, that's really inspired by racing and by cars. There are a lot of
little design cues in it that are related to the Motorsports world. On the
crown it looks like the gearing from a transmission, the screws that are set
into the lugs here look like the headlights on some of the classic
Austin-Healy cars. It's also it's called Roadster because it's convertible. With the
convertible watch, the bracelet can click on and off with a little titanium bar on
the bag. You can put any color strap on it you want. I love it on a black
ballistic nylon strap - it looks fantastic. But you can really dress it up with a
shiny black alligator as well. You can also get creative with colors with it. So
that wraps up our review of the Cartier watches that are offered in the more
traditional, thinner, sleek dressier watch style, here at Fresh from the Showroom Floor
at SwissWatchExpo.