Jean-Jacques Cartier (1919-2010)
The Cartier brand began in 1847 when Louis-François Cartier bought a workshop from his former boss. From here, the business was passed down through generations, from Louis-François, to his son Louis-François Alfred, to his three sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques who were responsible for the worldwide making and growth of the brand, and then onto Jacques’ son Jean-Jacques, the maker of this watch.
Jean-Jacques Cartier had a key focus on watches during his management of the Cartier brand. Aiming to make the thinnest possible wristwatches, he reworked tradition designs which resulted in creating off-centre, elongated models such as the driving watch, the maxi oval, and the pebble.
Jean-Jacques specified the watches to be made in 18ct which required a senior craftsman to spend around 35hrs to construct and each leather strap was specifically made to fit a client’s wrist. This time consuming production limited the watches.
Jean-Jacques insisted on reducing the output of the more original designs to 20 or fewer, feeling that part of the luxury lay in exclusivity.
This watch is a prime example of the innovative and creative watch designs to come from Cartier under the management of Jean-Jacques, featuring the renowned Jaeger-LeCoultre movement, 18ct case, leather strap, sapphire cabochon crown, and elongated face.
