The Cartier Santos is an immediately recognisable watch, permanently popular and it is great to find one with Cartier service paperwork.
HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?
From the guarantee card for a service carried out by Cartier we can accurately predate this watch to being made before June 1993. Both the guarantee card and the service receipt both have the correct serial number that matches the watch, so we know these are original to the watch and not matched at a later date. We are estimating the watch was made a couple of years before the service.
CONDITION
The Santos is original wristwatch design in many peoples eyes. In 1904, Louis Cartier wanted his friend, the aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, to be able to tell the time while flying. To put this into context, the Wright Brothers first flight was just a year before, and Rolex wasn’t founded until a year later, so this is the very early days. We have attached a picture of one of the ealriest designs and the main features are still recognisable – squared case, roman numerals and inner minute track that can all be found on our watch here from nearly 90 years later.
This example has a few marks form wear to the bracelet, caseback and glass, but the positives far outweigh this minor negatives. The bracelet is long, and has the signed Cartier clasp. The movement is an ETA sourced item, ensuring that servicing can be done easily and relatively inexpensively (although Cartier only charged £69.99 in 1993, including replacing the crown!). The box is the double folding design, marked Santos on the bottom, and snaps shut crisply. The dial is very good, with the hidden signature at X. The blued hands are very good, and the 18k gold bezel isn’t dinged.
This watch will be supplied with the original presentation box, guarantee, instruction papers, a service receipt from Cartier and our Certificate of Authenticity.
Please note – a very similar watch sold at Sothebys online only sale on the 15th March 2018 for £1,665 plus delivery. That watch had no box or papers, a shorter bracelet, no service history and no guarantee. See lot 23 here. The cheapest bi metal ladies Santos new is £6,550, with a quartz movement.
Please see the HD video for more detail.
SIZE
Width with crown 27.1 mm
Width without crown 23.6 mm
Between lugs 14 mm
Lug to lug length 34.6 mm
Case Thickness 8.6 mm
Bracelet maximum length 173 mm
All sizes are approximate.
Included with this watch is a 6 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses. If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries via DHL Worldwide, which we subsidise. Please see our Worldwide Shipping information.
