A look at the Cartier Tank historical window display

SJX

At SIHH 2012 visitors to the Cartier booth were treated to a comprehensive display of historical Tank watches, arranged chronologically in display cases that even had miniature props. A condensed version of the display is now on show in Singapore at the Cartier boutique in ION Orchard mall. Unfortunately no vintage watches are on show, but the display neatly sums up the evolution of the Tank over the last century.

Such a thematic display is unusual and already passers by were snapping photos of the showcases when I was there.

It begins in the 1920s with the Tank Louis Cartier, arguably the most well known of all the Tank watches

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Above: A 1920s Tank LC

And then comes the 1930s...

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With the reversible Tank Basculante

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Above: A Tank Basculante

And some period advertising for the Tank.

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Hollywood is evoked for the 1940s

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A selection of modern Tank watches

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And then comes the 1960s

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The really important Tank appears in the 1970s.

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The Les Must de Cartier Tank was one of the best selling Cartier watches ever, and part of the line that saved the company

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In the 1980s the Tank Americaine, a descendant of the Tank Cintree, was born

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Above: a vintage Tank Cintree

And in the 1990s the Tank Francaise was unveiled

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2009 was the beginning of the Fine Watchmaking collection, with one of the first models being the Tank Flying Tourbillon

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2012 sees the addition of the Tank Anglaise

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This message has been edited by SJX on 2012-09-01 02:05:10 This message has been edited by SJX on 2012-09-03 08:14:37 This message has been edited by SJX on 2012-09-07 01:39:09

Comments:

foversta September 2nd, 2012-00:43

Thanks a lot SJX! I think that a lot of people appreciated a lot this display at the SIHH. It was really nicely made. Thanks a lot for the report! Fx

SJX September 2nd, 2012-07:56

I was hoping Cartier would do a travelling exhibition of the Tank showcases But unfortunately that won't happen due to the logistics of bringing the vintage piece around. - SJX

Roni M September 2nd, 2012-10:00

Thanks for the Report.. In this day and age not sure what issues they would have with logistics that can't be overcome and I think it is part of the effort required in reinforcing the brand's DNA. Such short sightedness is sad. Roni

SJX September 2nd, 2012-19:52

For the same reason why museums don't loan their pieces... insurance, safety of the pieces, manpower (they have to be hand carried by Cartier staff). Not insurmountable issues but still I understand the problems, after seeing first hand how the Cartier Time Art show in Singapore was set up, and then packed up. - ...

Roni M September 3rd, 2012-19:40

Agree but.. If you want to establish credibility as a manufacturer of fine timepieces (which I believe is an objective) then these are costs that they have to bear. A lot of collectors still view the brand as a jeweller first.Leveraging on the heritage as a watch mak...

SteveS September 2nd, 2012-10:44

Thank it was really well done

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SJX

An in-depth explanation of the Cartier Minute Repeater with Flying Tourbillon

SJX

From the highly desirable 1920s pieces with EWC calibres to the Collection Privee Cartier Paris (CPCP) of the late nineties, Cartier has had significant accomplishments in high horology over the last century. The CPCP Tortue repeater The top of the line CPCP line at one point was the Tortue minute repeater, a beefed up modern interpretation of the Tortue repeater from the 1920s. Though quite beautiful, the CPCP repeater used a Renaud & Papi calibre that was somewhat lacklustre in sound, it was soft with significant regulator noise, not unlike many repeater movements of nineties. The 1920s Tortue repeater with a modern Santos 100 But the CPCP line was discontinued when Cartier made its most serious foray in recent years into high end watchmaking with the Fine Watchmaking range in 2008.

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