Comments:
I had the pleasure
to try this exceptional piece
which will haunt me well past Halloween 👻
Cartier Tonneau XL Skeleton 😳
I had the pleasure
to try this exceptional piece
which will haunt me well past Halloween 👻
Photos credit SJX
What a watch! On the wrist it hugs beautifully, courtesy of the curvature which includes a curved movement. Cartier absolutely killed it with this 2019 100 piece edition, don’t you agree…
Not bad at all. Not a fan ok skeleton watches, but here, it is like modern Art without any baroque look.
Agree, Cartier have the rare ability to get design right
and then to come through on execution. When it’s right and effortless it’s often Cartier.
I've never seen this watch but it looks amazing. I understand why it's
I acquired my first tonneau case watch this year from another brand and fell in love with it. I understand why this exceptional piece haunts you!
M4
I've never been a fan of two movement watched like this
It reminds me of a Philip stein watch i had in my teens. Or even the OG Jacob the jeweler stuff. This, however, is a different level. Such artistry, it elevates this piece to something else. Thanks for sharing 👍
Pleasure and for clarity this is one movement with two displays, the lower being one hour increments adjustable through its push crown
Ah thanks for clarifying
Upon review I do see only one balance and mainspring. In haste it looked like 2 movements. Still not my cup of tea, but a pleasure to look at
$78 500 (as of 2019) with no interior angles is very steep...
I think this is a beautiful watch, but so expensive for the quality of finish (at least the anglage), which I think should be higher for the price. It is however so elegant I can almost ignore that, but alas, only almost. Thank you for sharing, though.
Well there are a number of interior areas, doing all is out of the question and so unification works well to my eye
I'm in no way bothered by the anglage quality, are you? How much is the platinum Cubitus and what is it's interior angle count? This watch at that price is competitive against the market and succeeds in the harmonious unification of multiple design elements, particularly the amazing success it achieves by using a 100+ year old design and rendering it, as Nico points out, as modern Art. A hyper focus on interior angles in relation to price, to me, widely misses the point, and success, of this watch.
Well, the Ubiqus is maybe not the best example. Nothing can justify the Ursus. Damn, the Coitus... I cannot say it. :))))
Now that's it. One sec, calling Thierry to tell him I've found the name for his next model lineup...
Wow, I did not mean to offend so greatly...
The quality, not necessarily. But it's just too bad everything is smoothed out; a couple of sharp angles judiciously chosen would be great to see. I also think the Cubitus is a) a bad release, and b) not as great in finishing as Patek is capable of and lacks angles too, but that's not at issue here. I think the finishing on this Cartier is very comparable to Czapek's SXH1, which is fine (but the SXH1 costs $20 300). It's just not super impressive, considering everything. You also seem to ignore the spirit of my comment: I didn't rain on Cartier's parade and deny the watch's beauty or that it's a piece with a lot of virtuosity. But I am offering a small criticism, the overinflation of which widely misses the point of my original remark, which was largely praiseworthy. For my own preferences' sake, when it comes to this price which is highly aspirational, I'd rather opt for something better finished, of which many options exist. But this doesn't deny your appreciation for the Cartier, instead it dampens mine.
What I do think that this kind of money is very substantial and the watch should comport with it. For the same 2019 price as the Cartier, AP currently renders the steel Double Balance Wheel Openworked (availability not at issue here) with a good few sharp interior angles. Girard-Perregaux offers close to 18 or more sharp angles on their Laureato Skeleton, which is available at $43 600 brand new; a remarkable feat. So it is certainly possible to offer, though possibly at a higher price given the previous metal.
It's all good, perhaps it was taken as overinflation but not intended
but...firstly this is a skeleton piece, which is also interestingly complicated and limited to 100. This hyper focus on interior anglage vs price and comparison to others, evokes a spread sheet style analysis, completely missing the essence, about something that is more poetic than mathematic. Especially with Cartier, a design house really without peer. Perhaps the fact the movement also mirrors the tonneau shape and is curved has been cast aside in these comparisons, aspects that are exceedingly rare in other brands.
Sure, your criterion here is the design value and I get that...
which is why I love the Saxonia Thin Copper Blue, even though Moritz Grossmann's offerings are better-finished. The design value and poetic value of the Saxonia is off the charts.
Consistency across the brand...
The critique may be unwarranted for this particular watch, but cost engineering the movement finishing of high end pieces is a philosophy that Cartier extends to non-skeletonized watches. The Tortue chronograph was not skeletonized and is similarly priced to the Vacheron Cornes de Vache, where the movement is free-sprung and finished to a far better degree. A bit of discontent can follow, as a manual wind chronograph movement that is meant to convey emotions should not be purposefully nerfed to avoid stepping on corporate toes. That discontent, where it is harder to justify from an enthusiast's point of view, is then applied to this particular watch.