Cartier, Paris

The Cartier maison was founded in 1847 as one of the premier jewellery retailers in Paris, France. By the turn of the 20th Century, with Louis Cartier at the helm, the brand was among the first to place a discernible focus on wristwatches. Introduced in 1906, some eleven years before the famous Cartier Tank was designed, the Tonneau is one of the earliest wristwatch models from Cartier or any brand, for that matter. It was the first wristwatch born of the partnership between Louis Cartier and Edmond Jaeger, a Paris-based watchmaker specializing in the designing and importation of ultra-thin watches. European Watch & Clock Co., the name found on many Cartier movements of this era, was a company founded out of this partnership and specific to Edmond Jaeger-supplied Cartier timepieces.

Cartier wristwatches produced in the 1920s are incredibly rare and sought-after by collectors. In this period, it is believed that the brand was delivering roughly a few hundred wristwatches of all designs, shapes, and sizes per year, at the most. 

The present watch was manufactured by Edmond Jaeger for Cartier in 1923. Cased entirely in platinum, making this Tonneau even rarer, as most other platinum examples of this era feature a gold caseback, the watch importantly retains its Cartier serial and stock numbers on the reverse. The case serial number, 13’058, is present on the caseback and repeated on both the inside caseback as well as the inside of the bezel. The movement serial number, 22’112, is present on the caseback, matching the number stamped on the dial side of the movement itself. Thus, the watch is a “numbers matching” example – an important detail on early Cartier wristwatches. The “HSA” engraving on the case back indicates it was serviced and documented by Cartier in the modern era, and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity from Cartier.