The Shapes of Cartier
Cartier, Paris
Bamboo | New York Retailed: A rare and unusual lady’s yellow gold rectangular wristwatch with bamboo-style brancards and hooded lugs, Circa 1968
No reserve
Session begins in
June 15, 02:00 PM GMT
Estimate
8,000 - 12,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Dial: cream dial signed Cartier, stretched radial Roman numerals, blued steel epée hands
Caliber: 5¼’’’ oval LeCoultre movement signed Cartier, damascened Côtes de Genève decoration, lever escapement, 18 jewels, annular balance, adjusted to three positions, flat hairspring, Kif flector shock absorber
Movement number: numbered to main plate 1'894'607
Case: 18k yellow gold rectangular case with polished finish, the sides with bamboo-style brancards, slim oval bezel, concealed hooded lugs, notched sapphire cabochon-set crown, polished case back
Case number: outside case back numbered 026'840, 55'209, with French eagle’s head assay mark and Edmond Jaeger punch mark
Size: 27 x 19.5 mm
Box: no
Papers: no
George Gordon, Cartier - A Century of Cartier Wristwatches, Hong Kong: Timeless Elegance, 1989. See p. 503 Ref. No. 359 for a very similar example of the model illustrated in black and white (possibly an archival image) and dated to 1970
The model shown here is a particularly rare and striking example of Cartier’s Chinoiserie-inspired watches. Its avant-garde rectangular case is dominated by pronounced bamboo-style brancards that define the design. These brancards evoke the natural form of bamboo stalks, seamlessly blending the organic texture of bamboo with the sleek elegance of Cartier’s 1960s modernist aesthetic. This model may have also served as inspiration for the updated Coussin Bamboo model introduced in the Louis Cartier Collection of 1973.