Movements with complications that offer additional information, apart from the time, are considered the peak of the watchmaker's art. Watches with these sophisticated mechanisms chime the hours, show the date, wake you up, measure an event... From 1910, Cartier's example encouraged the most prestigious manufacturers of movements to offer their clients highly technical watches in exceptionally elegant designs. With these, the jeweller became a fully-fledged watchmaker.
POCKET WATCH WITH MINUTE REPEATER AND SPLIT-SECONDS CHRONOGRAPH, PERPETUAL CALENDAR AND PHASES OF THE MOON
CARTIER PARIS, 1927
Yellow gold.
Round LeCoultre movement, minute repeater, split-seconds chronograph, 48-month perpetual calendar, lunar phases, rhodium-plated, 8 adjustments, 40 jewels, Swiss lever escapement, bimetallic balance, Breguet balance spring.
Diameter 5.12 cm
MINUTE REPEATER
WRISTWATCH
CARTIER PARIS, 1928
Yellow gold, leather strap.
Round LeCoultre movement, minute repeater, Côtes de Genève decoration, rhodium-plated, 8 adjustments, 29 jewels, Swiss lever escapement, bimetallic balance, Breguet balance spring.
This exceedingly rare Tortue watch houses a most sophisticated complication: the repeating slide is used to make the minute-repeater mechanism strike the hour, quarter-hour and minute.
2.99 x 3.27 cm (case)
TORTUE SINGLE-BUTTON CHRONOGRAPH WRISTWATCH
CARTIER NEW YORK, 1929
Yellow gold, leather strap.
Round LeCoultre calibre 133 movement with single-button chronograph, 30-minute totaliser, fausses Côtes de Genève decoration, rhodium-plated, 8 adjustments, 25 jewels, Swiss lever escapement, bimetallic balance, Breguet balance spring.
Sold to Edsel Ford. After her husband’s death, Eleanor Ford respected his wishes by giving this watch to his close friend and colleague, Arthur Backus.
3.5 x 2.7 cm (case)
