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Cartier SA is a luxury watch maker and jeweler located in Paris, France. The family business was founded in 1847 in Paris by Louis-Françoise Cartier. During the next decades, his son Alfred Cartier and afterwards his nephews Pierre, Jacques and Louis developed Cartier to a well-known international brand.

“Santos” – the 1st wrist watch ever was made by Louis Cartier

The break through of the brand Cartier occurred in 1904, when Louis built a tiny wrist watch for Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian pilot and acquaintance of the family. The watch was named “Santos” and made history as Cartiers 1st man’s wristwatch – and the 1st wrist watch of all time. Their clients have been very pleased as well with the practical product.

Louis was responsible for lots of the well-known and successful designs of the brand. He developed the so called “mystery clocks”, for instance. These watches have a transparent dial and their clockworks are hidden. Another beautiful creation of Louis was an exotic wrist watch including multicoloured jewels called “Tutti Frutti”.

The Cartier Tank wristwatch has today more than thirty varieties

Already in 1907, Cartier was rapidly growing and had subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, London and New York. The company was developing into one of the world’s most successful wrist watch brands. A special highlight in the history of Cartier was a waterproof wrist watch made primarily for the Pasha of Marrakesh in 1932. Fifteen years earlier, Louis designed the “Cartier Tank watch”. This watch is still the most famous clock of the company and has today more than thirty varieties.

At this time, the company began printing reference numbers on the bottom of the wrist watches. The presence of these “four-digit-codes” is proving the watches’ originality. The company kept evolving and in 1964, Jean-Jacques, Claude and Marionne (the children of Jacques, Louis and Pierre) sold the entire business.

A new concept – “Les Must de Cartier”

The new owners – a group of several investors – started to design different products that should keep the quality of Cartiers wrist watches in the past. The new concept was named “Les Must de Cartier (Cartier – it is a must!)”. At present, Bernard Fornas is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cartier. The headquarter of the company is still placed in Paris, France. Cartier is regarded as the no. two seller of luxurious watches behind Rolex. In addition to that, Cartier is the worldwide no. one seller of luxurious jewels. wristwatches