Cartier, Paris

Cartier introduced their first tonneau-form wristwatch in 1906. It is worth remembering how early in wristwatch terms this date is. In the first decade of the 20th century the pocket watch was overwhelmingly favored as the personal timekeeper of choice. Furthermore, most wristwatches from this period were either adaptations of pocket watches - sometimes literally with wire lugs soldered onto their cases - or decorative jewellery bracelets that incorporated a watch into their design.

The majority of wristwatches produced during this early period were utilitarian objects with little regard paid too their external design, and even less consideration given to the comfort they would afford their owner. The Tonneau Cartier, by contrast, was produced specifically for wrist wear with its practicality and fit to the wrist given utmost importance. A strikingly elegant model that would have been considered extremely avant-garde, it is large and legible by the standards of its time. It has an ergonomic shape, specially curved to fit the contour of the wrist, and is remarkably slim.

Edmond Jaeger had been chosen to supply movements for Cartier’s watches precisely for his ability to source high quality, slim movements from LeCoultre that made possible the construction of refined, beautifully proportioned pocket and wristwatches that were so favoured by Louis Cartier. In this watch, the movement plate beneath the dial is chamfered downwards to either end, ensuring that the slim profile of the case is not unduly affected by the curvature of the case; without this chamfering, a much thicker case would be required.

Unquestionably one of the most important wristwatch designs ever conceived, it is a model that demonstrated how successfully the watch could be shifted from pocket to wrist. It showed that an entirely new genre of timepiece could be created, one that had no reliance on the styling of the pocket watches that preceded it. Testament to the brilliance of its design is the fact that both its shape, and many elements of its styling, can be found repeated again and again in a variety of models by many different makers right up to the present day.

An almost identical Cartier Tonneau wristwatch was owned by King Constantin I of Greece and is now in the Cartier Collection. The early deployant buckle is one of the first to feature the ‘D-shape’ motif to its exterior, when closed. Cartier’s signature folding buckle was patented by Edmond Jaeger. The original patent request (no. 409.891) was registered on 2 December 1909 and published on 3 May 1910. The ‘D-shape’ is first mentioned in an annex to the original Deployant patent, dated 20 February 1912.