Cartier, Paris

The Cartier Tank is a timepiece that has cemented itself as one of Cartier's timeless creations synonymous to the design codes of the Maison. Taking inspiration from Louis Renault’s ingenious feat of engineering, the Renault FT, Louis Cartier designed the case of the timepiece to reflect the world’s first modern tank seen from above.

From that first Tank sprang a kaleidoscope of colors and designs that went on to dazzle and delight avant-garde tastemakers of the 20th century. The Art Deco Movement and continued popularity of Chinoiserie in the 1920s and 1930s inspired a series of groundbreaking designs such as the Tank Cintrée, Tank Chinoise, Tank à Guichet, and Tank Basculante. One addition to the Tank family however, would come decades after it was originally introduced.

When Cartier first unveiled the Asymétrique in 1936, it was technically the last ‘Tank’ released in Louis Cartier’s lifetime, however, it was not introduced as a Tank at all, but rather as a standalone model with the modern driver in mind, and it was named the Parallelogram. Its unique design took into account the position of a driver’s hands on the steering wheel, where the unconventional orientation of the dial would allow the driver to read the time effortlessly without lifting their hands from the wheel. However, due to the success and brand recognizability of the Tank collection, the Parallelogram was rebranded as the Tank Asymétrique when it was relaunched in 1996. 

Our present Asymétrique, the Reference 2488, was part of this 1996 reissue and features a beautiful guillochéd dial with printed Arabic numerals. Released as part of a limited edition of just 400 pieces, 300 examples were cased in yellow gold, and 100 were cased platinum. We are pleased to offer our present lot numbered 72 out of the 100 platinum examples of this reference that redefined the Asymétrique.