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Cartier is not very helpful with releasing their records, and finding references for some vintage Cartier watches can be difficult, and therefore the early and rarer models can go unnoticed and overlooked duo the lack of information. I'm planning to post some reference differences and some knowledge which I have on certain vintage Cartier watches.
It seems that almost all Cartier models are well documented by hands-on research, study and literature. Information for many of the models is generally well documented and widely available. But this is not the case with the early 1970s Pre-Must gold plated Cartier watches. These were introduced for a very short run from 1973 until 1976. They are the so-called 'Cartier mystery watches' and not much is known or documented about them. I will try to explain you why they are not documented and why they did not make it in the current Cartier literature books. You could say its a Cartier history that went under the radar for the last five decades..
In the early 1970s during the quartz crisis in the Swiss watch industry, many of the mechanical watchmakers brands were barely surviving or had to close down. Cartier was among one of these brands. But Cartier had the advantage of being known as the king jewelers and not watchmakers, and could keep their doors open unlike many of other watch brands. But their watch department sales were dropping and Cartier had to come up with new ideas to promote their watches to a broader audience and peek the interest of their wealthy customer who were mainly jewellery and accessories buyers.
In 1973 the three Cartier boutiques came up with a new marketing strategy and decided to gift their wealthy customer base basic entry level watches, and distributed these as accessories to their other product lines in circa 1973-74. You bought for example a gold Cartier pen or cigarette box, you got a basic gents “Cartier” watch on the same package. The man would buy a Cartier jewellery piece or feminine perfume kit for his wife, and the box would contain the perfume bottle, a stitched handkerchief and a nice little “Cartier” watch.
These Pre-Must watches started to get noticed by the public and Cartier received many inquiries from people who wanted to buy these basic watches without having to spend the big bucks for an high-end Cartier product in order to obtain one these watches. Duo the high demand and potential earnings Cartier started the sale of the watches somewhere in 1975 and developed better quality and better designed Pre-Must watches until 1976 before the last NYC boutique was sold to the new owners.
While back than not considered in the same league as other Cartier models, the Pre-Must models performed extremely well in terms of sales and introduced Cartier to a broader audience. It was apparently because of the success of these watches that Cartier released the "Must De" line in 1977, once the three separate Cartier brands NYC, Paris and London were sold by their spouses who had inherited the business and when the new owners reunited the three branches into one.
Source: Wikipedia (After the death of Pierre in 1964, Jean-Jacques Cartier (Jacques's son), Claude Cartier (Louis's son), and Marionne Claudelle (Pierre's daughter) — who respectively headed the Cartier affiliates in London, New York and Paris — sold the businesses. Than in 1972, Robert Hocq, assisted by a group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui, bought Cartier Paris in 1974 and than they bought the Cartier NYC in 1976, respectively, the group repurchased Cartier London and Cartier New York, thus re-connecting Cartier worldwide. The new president of Cartier, Robert Hocq, created the phrase "Les Must de Cartier" (a staff member is said to have said "Cartier, It's a must!" meaning something one simply must have) with Alain Dominique Perrin, who was a General Director of the company. As a result, in 1976, "Les Must de Cartier" became a low-priced spin-off line of Cartier, with Alain D. Perrin being its CEO).
Fun fact or myth: Stories go that when the new Cartier owners reunited the boutiques in 1976, they came up with the new marketing strategy which was the ‘’ Les Must de Cartier line’’, and deliberately did not acknowledge their predecessor the Pre-Must watches, as they did not want the brand to be associated with theses watches and wanted to market the 'Les Must de Cartier' line as being the first low-priced line introduced by Cartier (Which has worked!). Nothing is documented about this and is just a myth. But we all know that Cartier has a long history with not acknowledging facts or myths. Take for example the Cartier Crash. Cartier makes us believe that the Crash design was inspired by a watch that had was in a car crash. But many of the watch community and watch consignors will argue this and tell you that the Cartier Crash was inspired by the melting clocks of the artist Salvador Dali. But I guess Cartier and their marketing departments have their reasons. Copyright or association with the arts? Who knows.. Many of these Pre-Must watches have therefore been disregarded by the collectors community and many of these watches have been branded as being fake and destroyed duo to the lack of information, even by Cartier!.
On 22 July 1986 chairman of Cartier Inc. rode a steamroller that ground thousands of fake wrist watches carrying the store's prestigious name into the steamy pavement. He decided to make a public spectacle of destroying the watches because 'each one of these, ladies and gentlemen, is a piece of junk bearing our name.'
Up to date we don’t know how many of these Pre-Must watches have been disregarded as being fake over these last five decades. And who knows how many of the Pre-Must watches have landed on this pile that was being crushed by Cartier. Therefore many these Pre-Must watch are very hard to find these days and rarely pop up for sale.
Source: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/07...7845522388800/
The 1973-76 Pre-Must series is a interesting collection which was issued in twelve different models which were powered by mechanical ETA / Peseux movements. The first watches of the Pre-Must line from 1973-74 which were gifted to their customers were the Round and Square models with the Peseux movements, and somewhere in 1974 they added the traditional Tank model to the line and switched over to the ETA 2512 movements.
When they started the sale of these watches in 1975-76 they introduced more and better artistically designed models and offered them with different stepped cases, dials and other designs. Some models had gold plated brass alloy cases and some had steel metal alloy cases, depending in which Cartier Boutique they were made (NOT silver like the later Must De models!). Some of the models had dials which were offered in lots of different colors like white, black, brown and the rarer color blue. All of the Pre-Must models from 1974 and onward had the ETA 2512 movement which Cartier branded the caliber 78-1.
Today I will start with one of my favorites of the 1973-76 models. Its the artistic and oversized ''Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo''. It looked very much like an LC Tank but with some notable differences in design.. It is the rarest model of these series and the largest of its time. It was basically a Cartier Tank on steroids!
The Stepped Tank model was a particular interesting watch and was the last design of the twelve Pre-Must designs. It was the only one of the series which came in a few noticeable different variations depending in which boutique it was made (Paris, London, New York). It was introduced somewhere 1975-76 and came in three similar (but o.. so different) references, and I will try to explain the differences.
The oversized Stepped Tank was a true Jumbo compared to the traditional 22mm Tank size. The case measured a whopping 38x28 mm which was considered larger than any other Tank model during the 70s and for years to come ahead.
This specific model seen above is the Cartier Ref: 15176 (New York boutique version). This is the rarest variation of the Stepped Tank series. It was the only model which was gold coated on a ''Brass'' metal alloy case (The Paris & London variations were gold coated on ''Steel'' cases). It was produced around 1975-76 in the Cartier boutique New York. It was also the only reference which had a ''Four-Screw'' back case (the others had snap back cases). It is also the only one with an unusual large elongated spinnel cabochon crown. It was also the only one one which had a recessed area in the case design to protect the winder forming a crown guard. It was also the only reference which had the true Cartier markings and serial numbers. It had punched Cartier logo and text in French language, and punched serial numbers. These case serial numbers on the Stepped Tanks should always start with the number 12 followed by its 5 digits case serial number. The other references did not had a serial number on the outside case and where lightly / shallow engraved with the Cartier brand and text. They had a ETA 2512 / Cartier caliber 78-1 movement signed ''Cartier Inc'' (Only the US Cartier ETA movements were signed Cartier Inc, the other references were only signed with Cartier). Serial numbers research point out that the ref: 15716 was only produced in max 2500 pieces before it was discontinued in late 1976 which makes it the rarest of the three references.
The Cartier (London boutique version) Ref: 471 had a Small crown. It did 'not' had a recessed area in the case design for the crown. They had a snap back case with no screws. It had a engraved back case (in English language) with No serial numbers on the outside (numbers are inside the case). They had a ETA 2512 / Cartier caliber 78-1 movement signed ''Cartier''. It was issued in gold coated on steel and only max 5000 pieces of the ref: 471 were ever made before it was discontinued in 1976.
The Cartier (Paris boutique version) had Ref: 1543 and also had a Small crown and a snap / push back-case with No screws and also did not had a recessed crown guard. It had a engraved back case (in the French language) with No serial numbers (numbers are inside the case). They had a ETA 2512 / Cartier caliber 78-1 movement signed ''Cartier''. These were also issued in gold coated on steel and also only max 5000 pieces of the ref: 1543 were ever made before it was also discontinued in 1976.
Many of these differences have to do with that Paris & London boutique were based closer together and exchanged the same ideas, designs and stock parts. The New York boutique was a more isolated store on the other side of the globe, and they came up with their own parts and designs which today reflects back in many of the pre 1977 models, and the three different reference variations of the Stepped Tank Jumbo is a good example of this.
All three variations came with a signed Cartier caliber 78-1 hand wind movement which was based on the ETA 2512. And all three had a slightly domed curved ''Natural Crystal Glass'' which was level with the case sides and not raised.
The dials from these series were always signed in the old style Cartier typeface font. They were painted and Cartier back than used a new experimental lacquer paint. Because of this almost all of these Pre-Must dials have patina aged to different colors and developed crackling trough the paint which we consider today to be tropical spider dials. They came in white, blue, black and brown with black or gilded hand painted numerals and had sword hands / pointers which came in black, blue and gold.
Overall: These Stepped Tank Jumbo watches can be considered sleepers duo the lack of information out there. They were the last of the line and were produced in very low volumes. The Ref: 15716 New York is the rarest version of the Stepped Tanks, with a production of max 2500 pieces, unlike the Paris and London versions which each produced in max 5000 pieces and issued in 18k coated gold.
Comparing these Stepped Tank models on rarity with for example an Rolex Daytona (Paul Newman) ref: 6239, which were produced in only 14.000 pieces, the Stepped Tank was produced in much lower quantities. This was because of the low demand duo to the oversized nature and design of the case, and because it was discontinued in late 1976 when the three Cartier boutiques reunite their three branches into one in 1977. Therefore not many of these were produced and sold, and are today very scarce and sought after.
Cartier is not very helpful with releasing their records. But by studying the Cartier literature and researching these watch models over the years by their case serial numbers and differences, rarity, market availability, me and my colleagues have come to the following conclusions.
Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo Ref: 15716 (made in New York) - very rare - gold coated on 'brass alloy' - estimate approx 2500 pieces.
Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo Ref: 1543 (made in Paris) - rare - gold coated on 'steel' alloy- estimate approx 5000 pieces.
Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo Ref: 471 (made in London) - rare - gold coated on 'steel' alloy - estimate approx 5000 pieces.
These production numbers are rough and high estimates based on the research done and the case serial numbers found.
For example: up to date the highest number which was found on the reference 15716 New York edition was 02070, so the figure of 2500 pieces is a rough and high estimate.
The London and Paris edition had no serial numbers. But research and resources show that these Paris and London variations are more widely available because they were more popular in West Europa than they were in the United States. So the figure of 5000 pieces is an rough estimate.
If you find a higher serial number than 2500 on your 15716 New York reference than please contact me with an image of this and I will update this thread.
This is a picture of a 15716 with a slightly damaged back case showing the brass alloy coming trough the gold coating.
The London Cartier ref: 471 & Paris Cartier ref: 1543 versions were issued in ''18k'' coated gold on ''Steel'', unlike the ref: 15716 New York boutique which was gold coated in ''14k'' (American standard) on ''brass''.
This is an example of a badly polished 1543 Paris boutique were the gold coating has been completely polished away and you can see the bare steel alloy.
Some watch pictures of the Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo which I found on the net.
Cartier round peseux pre must, Cartier square peseux pre must, Cartier oval pre must, cartier tank pre must, Cartier rounded pre must, cartier stepped rounded pre must, cartier stepped oval pre must, cartier ceinture pre must, cartier lugged ceinture pre must,
Cartier tank cristallor pre must, cartier tank wood pre must, cartier stepped tank pre must
Last edited by benbenny; 19th October 2021 at 14:00.
Many thanks for this post...very instructive
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