There really is a Cartier Tank to suit everyone's tastes.  Here we have a beautiful, traditional piece with a gorgeous black, onyx-type dial. This piece is a vintage, original, mechanical, manual winding model so no battery's here! This is an original, vintage, mechanical piece.

The vermeil case, also known as silver gilt, or gold-plated sterling silver, measures 21mm X 29mm and is a very comfortable wear on the wrist.  Inside the case is the mechanical manual wind Swiss Eta caliber, Caliber 78-1 (Eta 2512-1) fully serviced by us and running strongly.  We've paired this watch on a brown french  leather strap, but it looks great on anything.

An elegant Cartier Tank with a rather unusual onyx black lacquer dial.  The dial has aged in a really unique way and has created a spider web or crazy pave effect to the lacquer, which we absolutely love!  The dial is signed 'must de Cartier' at 12 o'clock and has the famous Cartier logo and 'Swiss' at 6 o'clock, along with gilt hour and minute hands, all of which create a sense of symmetry on the watch.  And, of course, no Cartier would be complete without the trademark cabochon winding crown. This watch also comes with Cartier buckle on (non-branded) French brown leather strap and in original Cartier box with booklets from its original Purchase at Duty free LAX united states circa 1980

The Cartier Tank is over 100 years old and is still one of the most recognisable watch designs ever made.  It was inspired by the top view of the First World War Tanks, where the tracks ran around the body of the vehicle, and during an age where machines were inspiring design everywhere through design movement including Cubism, Bauhaus and de Still.  When it was first designed in 1919, the simple design followed Louis Cartier’s design codes from his earlier wristwatches; the railway-style minute tracking, Roman numerals, blue steel hands, the cabochon winding crown and, Cartier’s own invention, the deployment buckle.  It was also at this time that Edmond Jaeger designed the movements, which were made by LeCoultre.  In the 50 years since the first Cartier Tank was sold, only 6,000 were ever produced (6 were produced in the first year and 33 in the second), making Tanks from this age incredibly rare.

It wasn’t until 1976 that the in-house Must de Cartier Tank was launched, the first product in the in-house Must line.  These Tanks were made of vermeil, or silver gilt, which is gold-plated sterling silver.  This made the new line more affordable whilst still having the prestige of being made from a precious metal.  Various sizes, dial colours and finishes were then produced for both men and women.  The Must de Cartier line was faded out at the beginning of the 21st century.

There really is a Cartier Tank to suit everyone's tastes.  Here we have a beautiful, traditional piece with a gorgeous black, onyx-type dial. This piece is a vintage, original, mechanical, manual winding model so no batteries here!

This watch has been fully serviced by our on-site workshop and comes with our 12 month, non-waterproof service cover.

What we think