When architect Louis Sullivan wrote the immortal kill joy phrase “form ever follows function” in 1896, he didn’t just express a design philosophy—he created a cudgel, one that the modernist movement used to thwack any idea frivolous enough to want to be beautiful first. Watchmaking was no exception. Though makers may strive to harness mechanical timekeeping in increasingly sophisticated ways, they tend to cram them into a circular case that accommodates the rotation of hour, minute, and second hands around a central pinion. It’s logical and expected. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Cartier, however, begs to differ. While the storied French house of luxury has done its fair share of round designs over the years, it is primarily known and appreciated for best 1:1 Cartier replica watches that are anything but. As a jeweller, Cartier has always been led by emotion over science, which is perhaps why the names that describe its iconic watches are invariably about their looks—about their shape—rather than their function. From the Santos in 1904 to the Tortue and Tank that followed, the company set about pushing the boundaries of watch design in the first quarter of the 20th century and has riffed on that language ever since. Central to the entire operation is (you guessed it) beauty. At its main factory in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Cartier’s Maison des Métiers d’Art workshop—housed in an old farmhouse—puts hundreds of decorative skills, from grand feu enamel and jewel setting to guilloche and carving, at the forefront of its operations. Here we delve into some of high quality UK Cartier fake watches’ greatest unround hits in their latest iterations.
Circular watches may be the norm, but cheap Cartier copy watches‘ decidedly unround designs are icons. Here are the four you should have on your radar right now.
Tank Louis Cartier (1922)
The first top Cartier Tank replica watches, inspired by the shape (from above) of the Renault FT-17 tank, arrived in 1917. It was succeeded in 1922 by the Tank Louis. Slimmer and more rounded in profile, it became for many the defining Tank, while its predecessor later earned the title Tank Normale in distinction. Many hallmarks of a modern AAA online Tank Louis Cartier super clone watches (as it’s now known) were established in those early years, from the Roman numerals and blued sword hands to the chemin de fer—or railway track—around the dial. Part of its lasting fame may also be down to timing: It debuted in advance of the Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925, which gave the design world a new term, art deco, and a movement that celebrated exuberant luxury and the possibilities of modern technology.
Tortue (1912)
If the Tortue suggested in 1912 that Louis Cartier (the grandson of founder Louis-François Cartier) might slowly be succumbing to the pervasive obsession of watchmakers with making everything circular, well, he got over it. Named for its vaguely tortoise-like shape, it was the roundest of the house’s earliest Swiss movements Cartier replica watches but still had squared-off ends between the lugs. (You might argue that it represented the existential struggle between the curvaceousness of art nouveau and the sexy angularity of as-yet-unknown art deco.) Somewhat neglected by Cartier collectors until recently, the best quality fake Cartier Tortue watches gets a welcome boost this year thanks to a number of versions from Cartier’s Privé stable, like this one in platinum with white-gold Roman numerals on a silvered opaline dial.
Tank Américaine (1988)
Cartier has made surprisingly few moves in the past hundred or so years to get new mileage from the allure of the original Tank. But when it has, they have been high points for collectors. The luxury replica Cartier Tank Américaine watches breathed new life into the stretched and twisted versions of the design—like the Cintrée from 1921, the Asymétrique from 1936, and 1958’s Allongée. Larger and thus more visible than its predecessors at 42mm by 22mm, the Américaine was just the thing for the 1980s. It was also the first China Cartier copy watches to come in a curved, water-resistant case and with a brand-new deployant buckle that allowed the wearer to adjust the fit exactly to their wrist.
Santos (1904)
Alberto Santos-Dumont would likely be dumbfounded by the latest iteration of the wristwatch that was originally made for him back in 1904 (and inspired, so the lore goes, by the overhead view of the Eiffel Tower that only an aviator like Swiss made fake Cartier Santos-Dumont watches could appreciate). First there’s the colour. The skilled artisans at the Maison des Métiers d’Art have applied a layer of peacock-blue lacquer—less than a hundredth of an inch thick—to the dial, bezel, and case, matching it with a croc strap in the same hue. Then there are the hour markers. The traditional Roman numerals are swapped for Arabic ones, further emphasising the entirely unique vibe of the Cartier replica watches UK store.