The Collection / 004
CartierSantos-Dumont
I went shopping for a shape and came home with a colour.
How I got here
I had only ever worn round watches.
I wanted to know what a square one felt like on the wrist.
This is the one I kept coming back to. So I bought it.
The day I got it.
Why this one
Steel case, rose gold bezel.
No cleverer reason than that. I thought it was pretty.
I have been looking at rose gold everything ever since.
This is the whole reason.
The part worth knowing
Yes, it's quartz. I know.
It doesn't bother me, and I think the watch is the reason why.
In 1904 Louis Cartier built this for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who couldn't get at a pocket watch while flying.
It wasn't the first wristwatch. It was the first one made for a man with a job to do — and from 1911, the first you could walk in and buy.
Two months in
No regrets yet. It has done something I didn't expect, though.
Every watch I have looked at since has had gold on it somewhere.
So far, so good.
The watch
| Reference | W2SA0037 · Large |
|---|---|
| Case | 43.5 × 31.4 mm · 7.3 mm thick |
| Materials | Steel case · 18k rose gold bezel |
| Movement | Quartz |
Where it sits
| Bought for | The shape |
|---|---|
| Kept for | The colour |
| What it started | Looking at rose gold everywhere |
| Regrets | Ask me in a year |
Two months in, so far so good.
- Images.
- Photography — my own.