Cartier Santos

The Santos de Cartier is where the wristwatch era began. Yes, there was another wristwatch introduced before this, but it was a one-off idea. The Santos watch from Cartier, originally designed to solve a real-life, functional problem, quickly rose to become the standard by which all other timepieces have followed.

Here’s what Cartier has to say about the Santos collection on their website:

“The Santos de Cartier wristwatch is as modern today as when it was created by Louis Cartier more than a century ago. Its singular aesthetic marks a milestone in the House of Cartier's explorations of geometrical forms.”

“An exploration of form and function, precision and aesthetics, the Santos de Cartier watch marks the convergence of early Art Deco style, industrial design and metal architecture.”

Louis François Cartier was already a world famous jeweler at the dawn of the 20^th century, who dominated of world of luxury among royalty, stars and celebrities. In fact, a Prince of Wales hailed Cartier as "Joaillier des Rois, Roi des Joailliers" (Jewelers to Kings, King of Jewelers).

The Santos watch was designed by Louis in 1904 for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont. Alberto was a Brazilian pioneer aviator, who described the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while piloting “flying machines”.

The genius of Louis resulted in a flat wristwatch with its distinctive square bezel. In addition, Cartier devised the case as a single piece, so the strap did not need to rely on lugs and attachment pins. From a practicality standpoint, this design was and is an amazingly elegant solution.

(BTW, if you’ve ever had a pin break on your watch when you were wearing it, you know what I’m talking about. I actually ‘killed’ one of my watches when the pin popped, and it dropped to the pavement, breaking into pieces.)

In 1910, Louis significantly advanced the usefulness and longevity of Santos timepieces once again, by creating and patenting a deployment-folding clasp. A century later, this clasp remains a trademark element in the Santos collection. And it’s another testament to his enduring creative genius.

Today, there are four different sub-collections within the larger Santos de Cartier portfolio, the Santos Demoiselle, Santos Cartier Galbée, Santos-Dumont and Santos 100.

As featured on the Cartier website, the Santos collection includes 75 different models for both men and women. Depending on the timepiece, there are quartz and automatic movement options to consider, along with several chronograph models. Within this extensive collection, Santos timepieces can be selected from metals including steel, gold, white gold, pink gold, titanium and platinum.

The point being, there appears to be a seemingly unlimited number of variables you can evaluate when deciding which Santos de Cartier timepiece is right for you. As mentioned earlier, the Santos de Cartier has a unique place in history as the first collection of wristwatches, with a design that’s stood the test of time.

Overall, you need to know that the Santos de Cartier collection is a bit pricier than the Tank collection. But within the scope of the completer Cartier timepiece portfolio, there are a number of Santos models you can realistically consider

To get a sense of the collection’s popularity, I Googled the term “Cartier Santos”, and found the following search, ranked by the number of search results: Santos 100, Santos-Dumont and Santos Demoiselle.

You’ll also notice that when you look at online retailers, the Santos 100 is prominently featured as one of their lead items. There are 37 models of Santos 100 to choose from. So there’s bound to be one that “moves” you.

As a side note for male readers, please know I’m personally enamored with the Santos 100 Skeleton watch. But since its suggested retail price is $51,500.00 USD, I have a sense it won’t make it off my ‘wish list’ any time soon…

For women, the clear consensus online is the Santos Demoiselle. Per the Cartier website, it is described as “A tribute to Santos-Dumont's famous aeroplane called ''The Demoiselle''. Energy, elegance and refinement for women with character.”