Luxury and Refinement at Cartier

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Paris is one of the capitals of luxury, and Cartier is one of its flagships. At the turn of the 20th century this company founded in 1847 developed its vocation of luxury jeweler and watchmaker.

Since the 20s, Cartier provides the frames of watches and clocks built on the mechanisms made by leading watchmakers, with whom he co-operates: Vacheron Constantin, Audemars-Piguet, Movado, Jaeger-LeCoultre.

On October 21 in New York, Christie's sells a Cartier pendulette made around 1928, and typical of the Art Deco period. The hexagonal shape is simple and unspectacular, and the materials generate the luxury: transparent orange topaz dial, diamond hands, frame adorned with gold, mother of pearl, jade, coral.

In the tradition of Robert-Houdin and Tiffany (detailed in a previous article of the same group), the supreme refinement of this instrument is that the mechanism also is transparent and remains invisible in the bulk of topaz. This mechanism is the work of Maurice Coüet, of whom the press release says that he realized only twelve such mystery clocks for Cartier.

For this precious witness of the refined Art Déco style in France, the estimate is 500 K$.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Good result but slightly below the low estimate for this precious little clock: 530 K$ including premium.