Fresh from the Showcase here at SwissWatchexpo, we're featuring a Cartier Santos. The Santos de
Cartier. This is the skeletonized version. It's a 2020 watch it's referenced WHSA0019.
And it's a really rare watch. It's really unusual for us to have this at SwissWatchExpo.
It's absolutely gorgeous. When I used to work for Cartier, we rarely got to watch like this, even in
at our own boutique. So much less here at SwissWatchExpo. It's a really interesting
watch because it has a historic flair and yet a completely modern vibe. The watch
dates back to 1904, when Louis Cartier's friend Alberto Santos Dumont, the Brazilian aviator
that most of the world believes flew a lot heavier than air aircraft before the Wright brothers,
he asked his friend Cartier for a way to time his flights and not have to pull a pocket,
watch out of his pocket and take his hands off the controls while he did that.
So Cartier invented one of the first modern wristwatches for him, the Santos in 1904,
it featured the screws that were visible, just like this modern watch. And it's a
design motif that has reverberated throughout Cartier's collections for 120 years almost now.
And this one though, it's really interesting because they have huge successes over the last
few years with the sent us 100, which came out for the 100th anniversary of the Santos watch in 2004,
but it's a much thicker watch. This one is a lot thinner. And even though it's a rather large case,
it's 40 millimeters square that doesn't really relate so much to a 40 millimeter round. Watch.
It wears much bigger when watches square than a 40 millimeter round, but because it's thin,
you can see it's a lot thinner than the Santos. 100, probably half the thickness,
then it really sits nicely on the wrist, but wrist comfort I'm sure isn't the only
reason that you would consider this one, but you can see I'll just put it on here.
And my wrists, aren't very big, probably about seven inches, fairly average, maybe a little
smaller than average, but you can see it. That's great. It would definitely fit under a dress shirt
cuff. And even though the watch is completely clear, you're seeing a front and rear Sapphire
crystal, so that can see all the way through it because there's so much going on with the
skeletonized movement and the skeletonized dial. If you will, you're not seeing a lot of your arm
through the watch, so to speak, but it's just a fascinating movement. What they've done here.
It's a the movement caliber is a 9611 MC the 9611 is a manufacturer caliber. It's all
handmade, in-house at Cartier and they've developed it specifically for this watch.
It's an incredible movement because they've simplified the bridges and the plates to make
it more interesting to look at. It is a double barrel movement. So it has two main Springs.
You can see them here up at the top. And in fact, I'll wind the watch and you can see them turning.
You can actually see them winding. I don't know if that'll pick it up on the video or not,
but it lends a lot of visual interest to it. You can see a lot going on when you wind it,
because it has two barrels. It has a power reserve, over 70 hours,
which is nice on a hand wound, mechanical watch, but they've integrated the plates
into the Roman numerals of the watch. So the Roman numerals, it's interesting, they're the,
it's definitely a Cartier motif iconic to have the Roman numerals, but instead of being printed
on a dial, they're actually metal pieces that are cut out to be the Roman numerals.
And then they use those as the plates of the movement. So you can see the rubies, the jewels
in the movement, poking through the, the Roman numerals there, as it holds everything together
for the, the gear train. When you look at the bank of the watch, you can also see kind of the reverse
of those same cutout, Roman numerals. You can see this one still has the stickers all over it.
It's in unworn condition, but an exquisite find something that is a definite conversation piece
can be worn all the time, every day, for sure. But also it's one of those watches that when you wear
it, no one else is going to have it on. Probably no one else has ever even seen it. They might've
read about it some online, but they probably haven't seen one in the wild, so to speak.
Now it is water resistant. It's still practical to wear every day,
sapphire crystals, front and back. All the gold is 18 carat, and it has this
beautiful design case shape that dates back to the original Santos watch from 1904,
you can see the 18 karat gold, high polished bezel with the screw heads visible.
The lugs are curved really beautifully. It's curved with the wrist. It's really, I guess,
a Santos Galbee, which means curved. Each link has curved in the watches curved as well.
So it's not like the flat ones that kind of sit a little bit awkwardly on the wrist. It does have
the Cartier signature blue stone on the crown and all through the bracelet. You can see each of the
links has a, an actual screw on it as well. That's reminiscent of the Santos Dumont aircraft. So you
can think of yourself as a high-flying aviator and adventurer. You might even pick up the book On
The Wings of Madness, the story of Alberto Santos Dumont. It's a really interesting read and a click
and like, and ask us questions in order this watch before it's too late from SwisswatchExpo.