Comments:
Would 10 mm strap bother you?
I was having lunch with a friend yesterday and he commented on the strap of vintage Cartier Tonneau I was wearing. He said that he would be hesitant to wear a watch with the “ladies” strap. That thought never occurred to me. I always saw Tonneau’s very narrow strap (10mm I believe) as design function: the watch us actually quite large: 26x46mm, but it tapers to vey narrow ends, so there is simply no way to put wider strap on it without compromising the shape. Would it bother anyone to wear a watch on the strap that narrow?
How old is your watch?
It looks properly ancient: when you wear such pieces, you should expect to be outside of today's fashion. This is absolutely fine by me! Such models have picked up visibility in the last couple of years.
I believe it is from late eighties, early nineties
Not sure from when exactly. I was thinking about dropping it off at Cartier for origin certificate, but kept forgetting.
You can get a strap
that is a little wider than the lugs.
Cartier used to do that with their CPCP Tonneaus.
So between the lugs it is for instance 10mm and beyond the lugs it is 12mm.
But your strap/watch combo does not bother me at all.
It suits the model.
George
Agreed. I would fit a 12mm. I hate seeing a gap showing the spring bar or lug bar on any watch. Lovely vintage watch.
1cm
10 mm is 1 cm.
A basic metric value, famous.
I have some attention in lug width.
Most of my watches are 20 mm, and my widest is 25 mm.
Is your Cartier with 1 cm too small?
Your choice. For me it’s ok.
A basic metric value, famous.
I have some attention in lug width.
Most of my watches are 20 mm, and my widest is 25 mm.
Is your Cartier with 1 cm too small?
Your choice. For me it’s ok.
Tonneau
As has been mentioned, your strap is not quite wide enough to fill the gap between the lugs. I also have this model and the lug width is actually 13mm. In my understanding it would have originally come with a strap that was 13mm at the lugs and 12mm at the buckle/clasp end.
There is no doubt that the strap on the Tonneau is narrow and may to some appear feminine, but as you say, the watch itself is not particularly small and its shape (which I think is extremely elegant) necessitates a narrow strap.
You are correct to say that this model was produced in the late 1980s /early 1990s. In my understanding it was introduced in 1986.