====== Cartier ======
{{wst>menue|Cartier}}

**Cartier** is a Paris jewelry and watch company, currently one of the Jewellery Maisons of [[Richemont]].

===== Foundation of the Company =====
In [[1847]] [[Cartier, Louis-François|Louis-François Cartier]] takes over the jewelry workshop of his master, Adolphe Picard, at 29, rue Montorgueil in Paris. A year ago he, the descendant of a powder horn maker, had become master jeweler and had registered his trademark, the famous heart between the initials L and C surrounded by a diamond.

[[1853]] Cartier is accessible for private clients at the 5, Rue Neuve des Petits Champs.

[[1856]] makes Princess Mathilde, niece of Napoleon I. and cousin of Emperor Napoleon III., her first purchase at Cartier.

[[1859]] Cartier relocates to 9, Boulevard des Italiens. Empress Eugenie becomes a customer.

[[1859]] he also adds antique [[pocket watch]]es to his range. When in [[1872]] his son [[Cartier, Alfred|Alfred]] enters as a partner, the trade with new watches is systematically expanded. Apart from [[pocket watch]]es under their own name also timepieces from well known luxury companies are resold ([[Vacheron Constantin|Vacheron & Constantin]] since [[1893]], after [[1900]] [[Audemars Piguet]]).

[[1874]] [[Cartier, Alfred|Alfred Cartier]] becomes head of the business.

[[1898]] [[Cartier, Alfred|Alfred's]] son [[Cartier, Louis|Louis]] joins the company, which then trades under the name **Alfred Cartier & Fils**. The business is transferred to the famous Rue de la Paix in [[1899]], where it still is today.

===== The ingenious designs of Louis Cartier =====
{{wst>image_l|Cartier,_Louis|Louis Cartier, 1875-1942}}
While the focus predominated on jewelery and jewels during the first two generations, [[Cartier, Louis|Louis Cartier]] proves as a lover of the art of watchmaking. During his fruitful activity he is able to give the industry an entirely new impetus. His imagination, his unsurpassed sense of style and the clear consequence of his designs raise his watch creations clearly out of the box of available products. His ideas become design classics, which effortless survive the superficial trends and fashions and in their inimitable way have long since become timeless milestones.

First [[Cartier, Louis|Louis Cartier]] expands the company offer with [[pendulum clock]]s, which are also produced in-house. Lots of beautiful luxury models in the style of [[art déco]] date from this period. He also addresses the genre of the early [[wristwatch]]es , which at that time, in an age when men generally wore only [[pocket watch]]es, were totally new and unusual. Already before [[1900]] some luxury models are produced, followed by the famous classics [[Cartier Santos|Santos]] ([[1906]]), [[Cartier Tank|Tank]] ([[1917]]) and [[Cartier Pasha|Pasha]] ([[1932]]).

{{wst>image_cr|Cartier|Pasha|Cartier Pasha|230px}}

Cartier is one of the few jewelers, who produce [[platinum]] jewelery. Not least because of this he becomes the most famous jeweler of the turn of the century and supplies kings and tsars, industrialists and nobles from the Far East.

In [[1902]] Cartier opens a branch in London in the 4 New Burlington Street and provides jewels and objets d'art for the Royal Family. In [[1908]] the opening of a Russian branch in St. Petersburg follows. In [[1909]] [[Cartier, Pierre|Pierre Cartier]], a grandson of Louis, opens a shop on Fifth Avenue in New York, after he had married a very wealthy American industrialist's daughter.

In [[1912]] Louis Cartier designs a miraculous [[movement]] //Les Pendules Mysterieuses//. The hands of this clock seem to hover on a crystal glass without visible connection to the movement. Later, out of this invention will emerge countless variations //Modell A, Pendule Ecran, Chimeres//, [[pocket watch]] //Mysterieuses//, and the famous //Portiques// models.

===== The luxury group Cartier =====
[[1904]] the company receives the first awards by King Edward VII and King Alfonso XIII from Spain. In the same year dies Louis-François Cartier. Alfred Cartier died in [[1925]], Louis Cartier in [[1942]].

The company experiences a time of crisis and after the death of [[Cartier, Pierre|Pierre Cartier]] ([[1965]]) is no longer family owned. It falls apart into three separate businesses. Only in the 1970s begins the re-emergence as //Cartier Monde// under the direction of Robert Hocq and Joseph Kanoui. In [[1974]] the new concept "Les Must de Cartier" is developed by Robert Hocq and Alain Dominique Perrin, which opens Cartier to a young generation. In 1978 with the newly launched //Santos de Cartier// for the first time appears a watch, where [[gold]] and [[steel]] are combined to a design unit. Under the direction of Micheline Kanoui, the wife of Joseph Kanoui, the jewelry range of Cartier gains new strength.

In [[1979]] Robert Hocq dies in an accident and Joseph Kanoui is appointed president of //Cartier Monde//. In [[1988]] the company acquires 60% of the Swiss watch manufacturers [[Baume & Mercier]] and [[Piaget]] respectively. The group of companies, to which other well-known luxury goods manufacturers are coming, in [[1993]] becomes the [[Vendôme Luxury Group]] .

Today, Cartier belongs to the largest jewelry companies in the world and sells, beneath watches and jewelery, also exclusive perfumes, lighters, leather goods and writing utensils. In [[1997]] the Vendôme Luxury Group, including the brands therein, merges into the [[Richemont]] Group.

===== Own manufacture movements =====
{{wst>image_cr|Cartier|Rotonde de Cartier Central Chronograph|[[Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Central Chronograph|Rotonde de Cartier Central Chronograph]]\\ with [[manufacture movement]] [[Cartier 9907 MC]]}}

{{wst>image_cr|Cartier|9907 MC}}

In [[2007]] the [[Richemont]] Group took over the production of the [[Geneva]] manufacture [[Roger Dubuis]] and by this also 28 exclusive movements of the [[manufacture]]. In addition to the workshop in [[La Chaux-de-Fonds]], Cartier has now studios in [[Geneva]], the metropolis of watchmaking at the Lake Geneva. This allows a number of new movements to be certified with the prestigious [[Geneva Seal]].

Meanwhile, Cartier goes its own way towards high-quality manufactury calibres. At the [[SIHH]] [[2009]] one proudly presented even four self-developed movements, including such complex constructions as the [[Cartier 9452 MC|9452 MC]] with [[flying tourbillon]], the [[column wheel]] [[chronograph]] movement [[Cartier 9431 MC|9431 MC]] with [[tourbillon]] or the [[mono-pusher]] chronograph movement [[Cartier 9907 MC|9907 MC]]. In 2010, Cartier introduced a double-[[barrel]], automatic calibre [[Cartier 1904 MC|1904 MC]] in the Calibre de Cartier.

In parallel with these innovations were presented new luxury watch models, powered by these exclusive calibres 

//Tourbillon watches //

  * [[Cartier Tank Américaine Tourbillon Volant|Tank Américaine Tourbillon Volant]]
  * [[Cartier Ballon Bleu de Cartier Tourbillon Volant|Ballon Bleu de Cartier]]
  * [[Cartier Santos 100 Tourbillon Volant|Santos 100 Tourbillon Volant]]

//[[Column wheel]] [[chronograph]]s //

  * [[Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Tourbillon Monopusher Chronograph|Rotonde de Cartier Tourbillon Monopusher Chronograph]]
  * [[Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Central Chronograph|Rotonde de Cartier Central Chronograph]]

So the brand offers not only optical luxury, but also high intrinsic value, which must impress any designated watch connoisseur.

===== Literature =====
  *Uhren als Kapitalanlage. Wie man von Rolex, Cartier and Co. Profitieren kann; Author Michael Brückner; ISBN 3898791521
  *[[Das ZEITGEFÜHL-Uhrenbuch]]; Author [[Gerd-Lothar Reschke]]; ISBN 3-938607-61-0

===== Address =====
Cartier Horlogerie Branch of Richemont International SA\\ Chemin des Alisiers 10\\ Case postale\\ CH-2306 La Chaux-de-Fonds

Tel. 032 / 927 72 77\\ Fax 032 / 927 72 78

===== Weblinks =====
  *[[http://www.cartier.com/|Cartier]]
  *[[http://www.kulturgutschrift.de/Cartier|Chronologie Cartier]]


{{tag>Watch_brands Watch_brands_Switzerland Watch_brands_France Vendôme_Luxury_Group Richemont La_Chaux-de-Fonds Canton_of_Neuchâtel FHH Luxury_watch_brands}}