Upper Distinction

Cartier’s watchmaking arm has gone from strength to strength with the establishment of six production facilities across Switzerland. Karishma Tulsidas tours its main manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds, and delves into the incredible minutiae of crafting a Cartier watch.

- Karishma Tulsidas

Did you know that French jeweller Cartier is credited with strapping the first watch on the wrist of a man? The year was 1904, and aviator Alberto Santos Dumont found the pocket watch too cumbersome when flying. Louis Cartier came up with the idea of the wristwatch and thus Cartier’s horological journey was cemented.

Nonetheless, for the longest time, Cartier’s timepieces were equipped with movements from external watchmakers such as Jaeger-LeCoultre and Piaget. It was in the 1990s that the maison recognised that in order to be taken seriously as a contender in haute horlogerie, it had to step up its watchmaking competencies. It began investing wholly in horological know-how and real estate across Switzerland, and opened six diverse facilities around the country that focus on a range of watchmaking specialities.

Today, Cartier’s fully integrated manufacturing facilities are capable of conceptualising, designing, developing and producing entire collections from scratch. The brain of this entire enterprise is located at La Chaux-de-Fonds, and is called the Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie. This is where Cartier houses its research and development arm, called Think Tank; where it produces and manufactures components and assembles movements; where it performs its after-sales duties; and where its restoration workshop is based.