Lot 154

Cartier

Santos Dumont

A lady's timelessly elegant, classic wristwatch with original box and guarantee card

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This Santos timepiece looks very elegant on the wrist. The brushed case is made of 18 K gold with a polished rectangular bezel. The dial features blued sword hands, Roman hours and the secret Cartier signature at 7 o’clock.

The Santos a.k.a. Santos-Dumont is a wristwatch by Cartier and considered to be not only the first Gentleman’s wristwatch model, but also the first pilot’s watch and the first sports watch. In Jahr 1904 Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont discussed the challenge to use a pocket watch to fly an aeroplane with his friend Louis Cartier. Cartier instructed his staff to design a watch to be worn on the wrist, taking its inspiration from the novel Lady’s wristwatches at the time. The company developed a watch based on a square pocket watch case, featuring large square dial, a screwed bezel and integrated lugs. Santos-Dumont wore such a timepiece when he was photographed with his plane and caused a sensation with it.
Source: Watch-Wiki