The NOT so basic blog.: Cartier: The Jewel of France

Cartier Logo

Cartier designs, manufactures, distributes and sells jewellery and watches. Founded in Paris, France in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, the company remained under family control until 1964. The company maintains its headquarters in Paris and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Compagnie Financière Richemont SA.

Cartier is well known for its jewellery and wrist watches, including the "Bestiary" (best illustrated by the Panthère brooch of the 1940s created for Wallis Simpson), the diamond necklace created for Bhupinder Singh the Maharaja of Patiala and the first practical wristwatch, the "Santos," of 1904.

Cartier Santos Watch

Cartier has a long history of sales to royalty and celebrities.  King Edward VII of England referred to Cartier as "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers." For his coronation in 1902, Edward VII ordered 27 tiaras and issued a royal warrant to Cartier in 1904. Similar warrants soon followed from the courts of Spain, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Greece, Serbia, Belgium, Romania, Egypt, Albania, Monaco, and the House of Orleans.

King Edward VII's consort Queen Alexandra wearing Cartier

Louis-François Cartier founded Cartier in Paris in 1847 when he took over the workshop of his master. In 1874, Louis-François' son Alfred Cartier took over the company, but it was Alfred's sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques, who were responsible for establishing the brand name worldwide.

In 1904, the Brazilian pioneer aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier of the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while flying. Cartier designed a flat wristwatch with a distinctive square bezel. This watch was liked by not only Santos-Dumont but also many other customers. Thus the "Santos" was born. This was Cartier's first men's wristwatch.

Louis retained responsibility for the Paris branch, moving to the Rue de la Paix in 1899. He was responsible for some of the company's most celebrated designs, like the mystery clocks (a type of clock with a transparent dial and so named because its mechanism is hidden), fashionable wristwatches and exotic orientalist Art Deco designs, including the colorful "Tutti Frutti" jewels.

Cartier Tutti Frutti Necklace

In 1907, Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger, who agreed to exclusively supply the movements for Cartier watches. By this time, Cartier had branches in London, New York and St. Petersburg and was quickly becoming one of the most successful watch companies in the world. The Baignoire and Tortue models (both of which are still in production today) were introduced in 1912, followed by the Tank model in 1917. This, designed by Louis Cartier, was inspired from the newly introduced tanks on the Western Front. This line too has survived, with over thirty varieties made since.

In the early 1920s, Cartier formed a joint company with Edward Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre) to produce movements solely for Cartier. Thus was the European watch and clock company born, although Cartier continued to use movements from other makers. Cartier watches can be found with movements from Vacheron Constantin, Audemars-Piguet, Movado and LeCoultre. It was also during this period that Cartier began adding its own reference numbers to the watches it sold, usually by stamping a four-digit code on the underside of a lug. Jacques took charge of the London operation and eventually moved to the current address at New Bond Street.

Pierre Cartier established the New York City branch in 1909, moving in 1917 to 653 Fifth Avenue, the Neo-Renaissance mansion of Morton Freeman Plant (son of railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant) and designed by architect C.P.H. Gilbert. Cartier acquired the mansion from the Plants in exchange for $100 in cash and a double-stranded natural pearl necklace valued at the time at $1 million.

Cartier Flagship Store in New York

Among the Cartier team was Charles Jacqueau, who joined Louis Cartier in 1909 for the rest of his life, and Jeanne Toussaint, who was Director of Fine Jewellery from 1933. After the death of Pierre in 1964, Jean-Jacques Cartier (Jacques's son), Claude Cartier (Louis's son), and Marionne Claudelle (Pierre's daughter) — who respectively headed the Cartier affiliates in London, New York and Paris — sold the businesses.

In 1972, a group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui bought Cartier Paris. President Robert Hocq, who created the phrase "Les Must de Cartier" (a staff member is said to have said "Cartier, It's a must!" meaning something one simply must have) with Alain Dominique Perrin, General Director, began introducing new products. In 1974 and 1976 respectively, the group repurchased Cartier London and Cartier New York. In 1979, the Cartier interests were combined, "Cartier Monde" uniting and controlling Cartier Paris, London and New York.

Cartier merged in 1981 with "Les Must de Cartier", and Perrin was appointed Chairman of Cartier SAA and Cartier International. The next year, Micheline Kanoui assumed responsibility for jewellery design and launched her first collection "Nouvelle Joaillerie". In 1984, Perrin founded the "Fondation Cartier pour l'art Contemporain" (the Cartier Foundation of Contemporary Art) to bring Cartier into the twenty-first century, by forming an association with living artists.

Les Must de Cartier ring

In 1986, the French Ministry for Culture appointed Perrin head of the "Mission sur le mecenat d'entreprise" (a commission to study business patronage of the arts). Two years later, Cartier acquired a majority holding in Piaget and Baume & Mercier. In 1989/1990 the Musee du Petit Palais staged the first major exhibition of the Cartier collection, "l'Art de Cartier".

L'Art De Cartier

Perrin founded an international committee in 1991, Comite International de la Haute Horlogerie, to organise its first salon, held on 15 April 1991. This has become an annual meeting place in Geneva for professionals. The next year, the second great exhibition of "l'Art de Cartier" was held at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. In 1993, the "Vendome Luxury Group" was formed as an umbrella company to combine Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc, Piaget, Baume & Mercier, Karl Lagerfeld, Chloé, Sulka, Hackett, Seeger.

Richemont Luxury Group

In 1994, the Cartier Foundation moved to the Rive Gauche and opened a headquarters in a building designed for it by Jean Nouvel. Following the accidental death of Robert Hocq in December of that year, his sister, Brigitte Hocq, became chairman. Joseph Kanoui became vice president of Cartier Monde. The next year, a major exhibition of the Cartier Antique Collection was held in Asia. In 1996, the Lausanne Hermitage Foundation in Switzerland hosted the exhibition "Splendours of the Jewellery", presenting a hundred and fifty years of products by Cartier. As of 2012, Cartier is owned, through Richemont, by the South African Rupert family and 24 year-old who is the granddaughter of Pierre Cartier, Elle Pagels.

Cartier operates more than 200 stores in 125 countries, with five flagship stores world-wide:

Paris - 13, Rue de la Paix
London - 175-177 New Bond Street
New York - 653 Fifth Avenue
Tokyo -　Minami Aoyama
Shanghai - Bund 18, 1st East ZhongShan Road

In September 2008, Cartier opened its first flagship store in Seoul, South Korea, named Cartier Maison located in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, with its facade inspired by Korean Bojagi wrapping cloth. Helmed by Managing Director Philippe Galtie, he said at the time of opening that it was the seventh largest in the world.

Collections
The product range of Cartier includes watches, leather goods and accessories. Each product is sold as part of a collection. The collections are:

Happy Birthday
Trinity de Cartier
LOVE
Panthère de Cartier
Santos de Cartier
Caresse d'orchidées par Cartier
Tank Française
Pasha de Cartier
Collection les must*
Paris Nouvelle Vague

Panthere de Cartier Bracelet

Cartier Love Bracelet

Cartier Paris Nouvelle Vague Ring

Watches

The classic collections are:

Calibre de Cartier
Pasha de Cartier
Ligne 21 de Cartier
Tank
Santos de Cartier
Baignoire
Tonneau
Ballon Bleu de Cartier