Cartier Santos Carrée ref. 2960, 'Massif'

Dealer description — Oliver & Clarke

The Cartier Santos is widely regarded as — wait for it.... ...one of the very first wrist watches. Full stop. Predating the more iconic Tank Louis by nearly two decades, the first Santos can trace its roots all the way back to circa 1904 when one Mr. Cartier provided his friend and pilot, Alberto Santos Dumont, a timepiece to be worn on the wrist, rather than kept in a pocket. The Santos is fascinating from a historical perspective in that it was not only the first wristwatch designed to be worn by a male, but also the first pilot's watch. Like so many icons, the Santos went on to see many variations, utilizing different sizes, movements, dials, and strap designs throughout its now 120-years of production. In the late 1970s, there were multiple variants available at the same time — one of which was faithful to the original design with a thin case profile, a manually-wound calibre, and came fitted to a leather strap — while another piece was introduced with an integrated bracelet, an automatic-winding movement, and featured a variety of dial options. The Santos that we have here is one of the latter, a Reference 2960 dating to circa the 1980s known as a Santos 'Carrée.' Around this time, the Santos Dumont was also in production and was largely a continuation of the original Santos in that it was fitted to a leather strap and was rather thin in profile. This example comes to us in excellent overall condition, with a strong case, a matching integrated bracelet and a crisp dial. The case shows signs of having been lightly previously polished and shows normal signs of wear throughout and retains clear and defined engravings on the caseback. The sapphire cabochon crown remains crisp and full with no chips or damage like so many of these do. Inside, the white enamel 'Swiss' dial exhibits only a few faint hairline fractures visible under inspection with a loupe, and is otherwise excellent, with seemingly-flawless printing and has its correct blued-steel 'sword' handset. The bracelet — which is gorgeous to begin with — has a signed deployant clasp and shows matching, normal wear to that of the case and retains it crisp factory finishing that plays with the light it comes into contact with in an almost mesmerizing way. This configuration, with the yellow gold construction and prototypical white enamel dial has gained quite a bit of traction in recent years amongst collectors, and we feel that its justified. If you're keen to dip your feet into the world of Cartier, but the more fragile pieces aren't speaking to you, this might just be the perfect alternative.