Crème De La Creme

After a two-year hiatus, Watches and Wonders Geneva 2022 made a triumphant return with a week-long exhibition this March. Brands impressed with a wide array of novelties ranging from additions to core collections to new movements to high-watchmaking objects. Here, we take a look at the most exciting releases in the first of a three-part report.

CARTIER

Few timepieces can boast the enduring appeal of the Cartier Tank. One of the most iconic watches of the maison and throughout watchmaking history, it was created in 1917 by Louis Cartier and debuted two years later. Modelled after the first modern WWI tanks and the caterpillar tracks they made, the Tank's clean and effortlessly elegant design has ensured that the timepiece transcends time. Over a century old now, the remarkable watch has successfully maintained its relevance and much of its aesthetics.

A stylish reinterpretation of the original model, the Tank Chinoise was born in 1922, a time when Far Eastern exotica or chinoiserie was very much in trend. Louis Cartier recognised the rich arts of other cultures and their importance in jewellery and watchmaking, which led to the maison's creation of precious objects, jewellery and also vanities, such as powder compacts and clocks adorned with elements of Chinese iconography.

Unlike the original Tank, the 1922 Tank Chinoise was differentiated by a square case and its brancards (French for stretcher), which is a design detail on the case flanks resembling stretcher handles. The horizontal bars on the top and bottom of the case overlapped the vertical bars that extended as lugs - an aesthetic that evoked the architecture of Chinese temples and the geometry of their porticos or entry gates.

While the unique timepiece has inspired numerous models, it has not been redesigned since 2004 in the Cartier Libre versions. These timepieces were part of the Collection Privée Cartier Paris (CPCP), which released limited editions of classic historical Cartier designs between 1998 and 2008.

Relaunched in 2015 and renamed Cartier Privé, the collection marks its sixth chapter by commemorating the Tank Chinoise's centenary with the reissue of two new models.