Cartier's High Performance Diver's Watch Works for Dressy Occasions

Since its birth in the late 1800s, Cartier has been known for fine jewelry and stylish wristwatches. Its Santos models—slim wristwatches with an unmistakable square bezel and exposed screws—became the more popular ones. The first version, created in 1904, is considered the world’s first “practical wristwatch for men.” For the longest time, Cartier timepieces were mostly renowned for their design—until seven years ago, when the house launched Calibre de Cartier, its first timepiece equipped with an automatic mechanical movement crafted in-house at Cartier’s new facility in Switzerland. With this, Cartier satisfied the modern man’s need for a timepiece with aesthetic appeal and the complexity of a self-winding mechanical movement.

This performance-level sports watch passed extremely rigorous tests to meet all technical requirements of ISO 6425, from its resistance to shock, chemicals, and magnetic fields to its adequate visibility in total darkness and strap toughness.

The label moved further into the men’s sports market with the timepiece Calibre de Cartier Diver adding some serious heft to the collection. This performance-level sports watch passed extremely rigorous tests to meet all technical requirements of ISO 6425, from its resistance to shock, chemicals, and magnetic fields to its adequate visibility in total darkness and strap toughness, among others. It has a unidirectional bezel, which allows timing dives and decompression stops while preventing accidental rotation of the dive-time marker and can be clearly read deep below the surface, thanks to its Superluminova coating applied to its dive-time indicators, preselection device, small seconds counter, and hour and minute hands. Most importantly, it is water resistant to 300 meters or over 480 feet and may be subjected to high pressures and extreme conditions such as heat shock and immersion in salt water.

IMAGE COURTESY OF CARTIER/ STORES SPECIALISTS INC.

Inside Out: A look at the timepiece's self-winding mechanical movement

While it packs a lot in function, it doesn’t compromise the distinct Cartier appeal—being still impressively slim at only 11 millimeters, given it’s a diver’s watch, and with its signature Roman numeral dial and a crown set with sapphire cabochon. It comes with a black rubber strap and features three styles: steel, bi-color, and pink gold. “While it’s a diver’s watch and its functions are quite sporty, the design is made to match dressier occasions,” says Jean-Baptiste Tardy, the label’s area manager for Southeast Asia.

IMAGE COURTESY OF CARTIER/ STORES SPECIALISTS INC.

The Superluminova coating

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