Cartier Set to Relaunch the Tortue Watch at SIHH 2014

Cartier is gearing up for a big year at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. The manufacture will relaunch its iconic Tortue watch at SIHH 2014, as well as launch four new timepieces bearing the Maison’s creative seal. Here’s your sneak peek!

Tortue Watch

The Tortue watch was originally created in 1912, and it was one of Cartier’s first shaped watches (followed up by the Tonneau watch, the Baignoire watch and the Crash watch). This heritage watch is being relaunched with two new ultra-feminine extra-thin models; a Medium model with manual winding 430 MC movement, in either pink gold or white gold with diamonds; and a Small model with a mechanical movement with manual winding 8970 MC movement, in either pink gold with diamonds or white gold with diamonds.The domed case of the original model has been replaced with flat, refined facets, while the Roman numerals, sword-shaped hands, dotted rail-track and guilloché dial of the original remain.

Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendaire

This 45mm platinum “Poinçon de Genève” certified timepiece boasts a tourbillon complication and perpetual calendar with circular display. Designed like an amphitheatre, with the intention of clarifying the perpetual calendar’s indications, the display overcomes numerous readability issues that are specific to the traditional approach to this complication, which requires the juxtaposition of twelve months, seven days, the date and the type of year in a diameter of just a few centimetres. Arranged three-dimensionally in concentric levels, the display of the perpetual calendar’s functions is spread over the different levels: the day is indicated on the first. It is followed by the month on the second, which is itself surmounted by the date. Thin windows move along these tiers. The perpetual calendar’s final function is indicated by a hand located on the back of watch and shows what type of year it is: a leap year or a normal year. Only 100 pieces will be produced.

Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon

This 47mm platinum timepiece features a tourbillon and a second time zone and moon phase on demand. Transforming the tourbillon from its traditional horological role, in which it serves as a guarantee of precision and prestige, this timepiece makes it the backdrop to the moon-phase display, which has neither hand nor aperture. Each complication is dependent on the other. The watch owes its name to the stylised portrayal of the globe and the moon represented by a tourbillon. Only 50 pieces will be produced.

Tank MC Two-tone Skeleton watch

This 34.5mm x 43.8mm pink gold watch features skeletonised bridges in the form of Roman numerals, with the numbers III, VI, IX and XII showcasing the two-tone calibre 9619 MC.

Calibre de Cartier Diver

The newest edition of the Calibre de Cartier watch (which launched in 2010), this 42mm Diver’s watch meets all the criteria for a diver’s watch as laid down in the international standard, from a unidirectional bezel, hands and dive-time indicator in superluminova, and water-resistance to 300 meters. The caseback features a “Diver’s watch 300 m” engraving. The Calibre de Cartier Diver will be available in a steel and a pink gold version.

Photo credit: Laziz Hamani © Cartier 2013, Vincent Wulveryck © Cartier 2013, Nils Herrmann © Cartier 2013.