From their forms to their movements, Cartier watches are unique. They are an enduring combination of the unexpected and the classical. This book chronicles Cartiers constant quest for excellence in the manufacture of complicated watches. From a Tortue single push-piece chronograph, created in 1929, to a contemporary Santos 100 skeleton watch, Cartier interprets complications in its own inimitable way, always with a sense of design. Laziz Hamanis photographs capture these objects of exceptional technicity while author and expert Jack Forster shares the spirit that motivates each craftsman, engineer and artist to create the most stunning complicated watches.
“A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This] elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.”—The Economist The “astounding” (André Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon—as told by a great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives “Ms. Cartier Brickell has done her grandfather proud.”—The Wall Street Journal The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the controls of his flying machine; Pierre, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry. Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her family’s history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more. The Cartiers also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther pieces—and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them, from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to Wallis Simpson, Coco Chanel, and Elizabeth Taylor. Published in the two-hundredth anniversary year of the birth of the dynasty’s founder, Louis-François Cartier, this book is a magnificent, definitive, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.
This handsome monograph charts the evolution of one of the most coveted items of modern style, showcasing the extraordinary craftsmanship of the House of Cartier. The Tank Watch, designed by Louis Cartier in 1917, is an icon of modern timepiece design. One of the world’s first square wristwatches, its functionality is rivaled only by its elegance; it represents a perfect combination of fine watchmaking and the jeweler’s art. The Tank has been creatively reinterpreted by Cartier in many models—from the Chinese Tank to the Crash Watch to the recent Tank Anglaise—while always remaining faithful to Louis Cartier’s original concept.Through designs from Cartier’s rich archives, historical models, and photographs of famous clients from Clark Gable to Andy Warhol, this volume celebrates one of Cartier’s greatest masterpieces.
This large coffee table book, about Cartier watches, should be seen as an addition to the collection of excellent books about Cartier, already on the market. Most of these excellent books give an overview of the history of 'La Maison', combined with photographs of watches, jewels tiaras and the famous people that wore those items. 'The 'Gentleman's Files' narrows this down to just men's watches, highlighting the period between 1985 and 2018. It was then that Cartier, for the first time, concentrated on a large range of men's models, from simple time-only models to highly complicated timepieces, often with visually strong ties to their designs from very early years. The watches described in the 'Gentleman's files' are my personal choice and just a selection of what Cartier released in that period. While form and function were united in harmony by 'La Maison' in these creations, it is their unique style that set them apart from any other brand. To do justice to this, the setup of this book is not chronological or aimed to provide you with every single detail of the watches shown, but rather to highlight their style in a unique way. It will, therefore, serve as a visual memento to some of the most stylish and tantalizing watch designs ever created.
This handsome monograph charts the evolution of one of the most coveted items of modern style, showcasing the extraordinary craftsmanship of the House of Cartier. The Tank Watch, designed by Louis Cartier in 1917, is an icon of modern timepiece design. One of the world’s first square wristwatches, its functionality is rivaled only by its elegance; it represents a perfect combination of fine watchmaking and the jeweler’s art. The Tank has been creatively reinterpreted by Cartier in many models—from the Chinese Tank to the Crash Watch to the recent Tank Anglaise—while always remaining faithful to Louis Cartier’s original concept.Through designs from Cartier’s rich archives, historical models, and photographs of famous clients from Clark Gable to Andy Warhol, this volume celebrates one of Cartier’s greatest masterpieces.
"Silently stalking its way through Cartier iconography for a century, the Panther is the proud leader of the pack of precious animals that make up the famous Cartier menagerie. Cartier Panthère illustrates the panther throughout art history and popular culture, chronicles the creative evolution and technical expertise behind Cartier's exquisite Panther jewelry, and recounts anecdotes of legendary Cartier personalities and patrons from Jeanne Toussaint and Daisy Fellowes to Maria Félix and the Duchess of Windsor. Featuring stunning imagery, including rarely seen preparatory drawings from the Cartier archives and the most recent haute joaillerie creations unveiled at the 2014 Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris, this beautiful volume is the definitive collection of 100 years of Cartier Panther jewels"--Publisher's description.
Created with the full co-operation of Cartier, this exquisite book showcases the rich holdings of the Cartier Collection and archive. It features not only a sumptuous array of rings, bracelets, necklaces, and tiaras, but also cocktail and smoking accessories, mystery clocks and lavish objects created by Cartier's ateliers in Paris, London and New York. Organized thematically, the book features magnificent jewels and accessories owned by such arbiters of taste as Daisy Fellowes, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace, Barbara Hutton and Elizabeth Taylor. Throughout, specially commissioned photographs of Cartier's legendary jewels are accompanied by vintage photographs - drawn from the Condé Nast and Cartier archives - of these royals, socialites and Hollywood stars in their Cartier finery, including work by Steichen, Horst, Beaton and Charbonneau.
The Art of Cartier is published to coincide with the exhibition of more than 400 pieces from the historic collection of the legendary French jeweler Cartier at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid. Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, although it was his three grandsons--Jacques, Louis and Pierre--who were responsible for launching the brand name worldwide. Indeed, so successful were they that we can read across from the story of Cartier to the wider history of the twentieth century: a Panther clip brooch bought by Wallis Simpson in 1949; the now-infamous Ruby Suite presented to Elizabeth Taylor by her third husband, Mike Todd, in 1957. The Art of Cartier offers a comprehensive selection of the finest jewels that Cartier has repurchased over the years, in an attempt to assemble a representative collection of the Maison's production and to show the evolution of its style during the first half of the twentieth century. The items on exhibit range from the great tiaras in the so-called "garland" style of the early twentieth century to Art Deco jewels and others inspired by exotic places (including the famous Tutti Frutti bracelet of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires all nestled in a frieze of foliage), gold jewelry of the 1930s and 1940s and one-off commissions for leading personalities of the century such as Coco Chanel, María Félix and Grace Kelly. This sumptuous volume includes 950 color photographs and introduces us to one of the world's finest jewelry collections, allowing us to appreciate the creativity and mastery of Cartier's designers and artist-jewelers over the course of more than 100 years.
A sumptuous exploration of the ways in which the Islamic arts have inspired the famous jewelry house Cartier, this book accompanies a major exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, and the Dallas Museum of Art. Louis Cartier (1875–1942), the grandson of Cartier founder Louis-François, was an impassioned collector and patron of the arts. He was particularly entranced by Islamic arts, especially Persian book arts: their geometric shapes, color combinations, and motifs are apparent in Cartier jewelry to this day. Louis’s younger brother Jacques—an expert in precious stones—traveled to India and the Persian Gulf in 1911 and 1912 to experience the culture and bring home treasures of the Middle East: natural pearls. This was the pivotal moment when the dialogue between these two worlds opened up, eventually blossoming into a beautiful relationship that has lasted for decades. Published to accompany a major exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and the Dallas Museum of Art, Cartier and Islamic Arts delves into the Cartier archives to trace the story of Louis Cartier’s love of Islamic art and the ways in which he incorporated the Islamic world’s stylized motifs into Cartier’s jewelry. Dazzling photographs are accompanied by in-depth texts from a raft of distinguished scholars of both Islam and the decorative arts.
