Top 10 Cartier Watches Every Collector Should Know

The Tank that Louis Cartier himself drew. Long brancards (the rectangles forming the top and bottom of the case), manual movement, a face built around proportion rather than diameter. The current cartier-tank-louis-cartier-large WGTA0011 is the canonical reference — yellow gold, hand-wound 8971 MC, 33.7mm × 25.5mm — and the watch most collectors mean when they say "Tank." The Tank Louis Cartier was actually the third Tank reference (the earlier Tank Normale and Tank Cintrée came first), but it is the one that defined the proportional system every subsequent Tank descends from.

The first proper men's wristwatch. Designed by Louis Cartier for the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont so he could read the time without taking his hands off the controls of his early aircraft. The Santos predates the modern wristwatch by close to a decade — when Cartier put it into general production in 1911 it was the first time a man could buy a watch made specifically for the wrist. The current cartier-santos-large-wssa0018 is the large reference with QuickSwitch. The Santos in steel is the Cartier collectors have been wrong about for a decade — it's now the brand's most consistently appreciating sports reference.

Distorted on purpose, never logical. The most romantic and the most copied Cartier silhouette. Read the full story in our The Cartier Crash: Story Behind the Watch That Refuses To Make Sense piece. Original London production: roughly 12 pieces. 1991 Paris reissue: 400 pieces. Modern editions (2015 Skeleton, 2018 Radieuse, 2023 London Edition) in production-edition runs of 50–200. Auction record CHF 1.5m for an original 1967 London piece.

The Tank elongated and curved to follow the wrist. Originally a Cartier London speciality, made in tiny numbers through the 1920s and 1930s, then revived in the 1970s and again in the modern Cartier Privé collection. A connoisseur's Tank — the answer when the standard Tank Louis feels too obvious. The 2021 Cartier Privé Tank Cintrée (50 pieces in platinum, 150 in rose gold) trades at multiples of issue price.

The bathtub. An oval case, dropped earrings made for the wrist, originally designed in 1957 and put into production the following year. Cartier's most under-appreciated shape — frequently dismissed as a women's watch despite being one of the brand's most architecturally interesting cases. Modern releases include the 2024 Baignoire Allongée, which lengthens the case and brings a manual-wind movement back into the line.

The curved Tank — a wider, more wearable take on the Cintrée. Designed by Cartier Paris in 1989 specifically as a unisex daily-wear Tank for the American market (hence the name). Recently revived in the Tank Américaine 2024 with a redesigned case profile that addresses the original's slightly bulky lug treatment. The new automatic version is the most wearable modern Tank in the line.

Cartier's water-resistant cushion case. Sometimes maligned, recently rehabilitated by the 2020 redesign which slimmed the case, returned to a properly proportioned crown chain (a Cartier signature lost during the 2000s), and added a tool-free strap-change system. The modern Pasha 41 is the Cartier most likely to appear on a wrist that doesn't otherwise own Cartier.

The tortoise — a soft rectangular case, currently only made in the high jewellery line. The Tortue is older than the Tank by five years and was the basis for the Tank's dial proportions. Modern Tortue releases are exclusively from Cartier Privé in tiny editions; vintage Tortue references (the 1928 Tortue Monopoussoir Chronograph in particular) command serious auction prices.

The barrel. The narrowest of Cartier's main cases, the most theatrical. The Tonneau XL of 2008 was the most ambitious modern Tonneau — 52mm long, with a case that wraps the wrist in a way no other Cartier shape does. The 2019 Cartier Privé Tonneau Skeleton Dual Time is the connoisseur reference.

A round dial in a square case, rotated 45 degrees so the dial looks like a pebble inside a frame. Cartier London again — original 1972 production was around 30 pieces. Re-released in limited form in 2023 as a 150-piece London edition, which sold out before the press release went live. The Pebble is the only Cartier case that has been made fewer times than the Crash.