Cartier
Available in the Shop: Two takes on the sporty Cartier Santos
Cartier
Available in the Shop: Two takes on the sporty Cartier Santos
But a change in the maison’s vision in the late 1970s made Cartier accessible to a larger audience. In 1978, the gentleman who was appointed as Marketing Manager of Cartier at the time, Dominique Perrin, came up with a clever idea of launching an affordable sports watch, based on the legendary ‘Santos Dumont’. The watch needed to appeal to a younger crowd and fit a variety of lifestyles.
Cartier was one of the first companies to spearhead this new trend. So, the Santos was actually born to be a two-tone timepiece. The screws on the bezel and the screws on the bracelet of the watch, in gold, were the right elements to highlight the combination of these two metals. There have not been many timepieces since, even at Cartier, that look so good in two-tone as the Santos.
To be precise, the launch of Dominique Perrin’s creation occurred in 1978 on the 20th of October. It took place in the Musée de l’Air in Paris. And what a great choice that was, to organize the Gala over there. Since this is the place where the airplane of aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, named Demoiselles, can still be found. The Santos went on to become a huge success and turned into one of those watches that you had to have.
This new problem was almost impossible to beat. Despite the fact that Cartier launched different versions, like a Moon phase model, a round, an octagonal model and even a chronograph; the classic Santos was the most copied watch in the world for many years.
In 1987, the Santos was drastically revised, renamed and relaunched as the Santos Galbée. The case lost its boxy looks and became more curved, smooth and a better fit on the wrist than the original Santos.
The 2018 collection of Santos watches came in a medium (35.1mm x 41.9mm) and large (39.8mm x 47.5mm) size, with an all steel, all gold (yellow or pink) or two-tone (yellow gold and steel) case. The large ones had a date window at 6 o’clock; none on the medium ones. And, given the originally intended versatility of the Santos, the different case types were fitted on a matching metal bracelet or on a calf or alligator skin strap.
For those looking for something extra, Cartier made a skeleton version of the large sized Santos in steel and pink gold, which showed off la maison’s knack for skeletonized movements. Both these versions came with matching metal bracelets.