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Cartier SA is a luxury watch manufacturer and jeweler located in Paris, France. The family business was founded in 1847 in Paris by Louis-Françoise Cartier. During the following decades, his son Alfred Cartier and afterward his nephews Pierre, Jacques and Louis developed Cartier to a well-known worldwide brand.

“Santos” – the 1st wrist watch ever was produced by Louis Cartier

The breakthrough of the brand Cartier took place in 1904, when Louis developed a flat wrist watch for Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian airman and friend of the family. The wristwatch was called “Santos” and made history as Cartiers 1st man’s wristwatch – and the first wristwatch of all time. Their clients have been really pleased as well with the practical product.

Louis was responsible for lots of the better-known and favorable designs of the company. He made the so called “mystery clocks”, for instance. These watches have a transparent dial and their clockworks are invisible. Another exquisite creation of Louis was an exotic wrist watch including multicoloured jewels named “Tutti Frutti”.

The Cartier Tank watch has nowadays more than thirty variations

Already in 1907, Cartier was rapidly evolving and had subsidiaries in St. Petersburg, London and New York. The company was evolving into one of the world’s most successful watch brands. A great highlight in the history of Cartier was a watertight wrist watch made primarily for the Pasha of Marrakesh in 1932. Fifteen years earlier, Louis developed the “Cartier Tank watch”. This wrist watch is still the most famous clock of the company and has today more than thirty varieties.

At this time, the company began printing reference numbers on the underside of the watches. The presence of these “four-digit-codes” is proving the watches’ originality. The company kept evolving and in 1964, Jean-Jacques, Claude and Marionne (the children of Jacques, Louis and Pierre) sold the whole business.

A new concept – “Les Must de Cartier”

The new possessors – a group of different investors – began to design different products that should keep the quality of Cartiers wristwatches in the past. The recent concept was named “Les Must de Cartier (Cartier – it is a must!)”. At present, Bernard Fornas is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Cartier. The headquarter of the company is still located in Paris, France. Cartier is regarded as the no. two seller of luxurious wristwatches behind Rolex. In addition to that, Cartier is the worldwide no. one vendor of luxurious jewels. Wrist Watches for men