I · The Maker/II · The Object/III · The Dial/IV · The Record/V · Acquisition
Room I · The Maker
Cartier made no movements in house in this era. From 1907 Louis Cartier held an exclusive agreement with the Paris watchmaker Edmond Jaeger, formalised around 1919 as the European Watch & Clock Co., with ebauches from LeCoultre in Le Sentier finished in Jaeger's workshops. The E.W.&C. signature is the mark of Cartier's own supply chain, and a watch carrying it on both movement and case is as original as Cartier production comes.
Nothing moves on this dial but the two hands
The Object
A Cartier dress watch of the mid 1920s in 18ct yellow gold, signed by the European Watch & Clock Co. on movement and case alike: Cartier production at its most complete.
This is an open face dress watch in 18ct yellow gold, 46.9mm across and remarkably shallow, made around 1925, when the flat gold watch was Cartier's answer for evening wear.
The case is the extra-flat bombe pattern, drawn in one unbroken curve from the polished bezel to the domed back, with no step or ornament to interrupt it. The bow is a plain gold oval, the crown finely fluted, and that is the whole vocabulary of the outside. Cartier left the back plain, and no owner in a hundred years added a monogram: the mirror of gold is as the Paris workshop released it.
The dial is silvered rather than enamel, the modern choice for the period, with black Roman numerals set inside a railway minute track and the Cartier signature written in script below twelve. There is no seconds hand. The symmetry is the point: nothing moves on this dial but the two blued steel Breguet-style hands.
The movement was supplied to Cartier alone by the European Watch & Clock Co. and engraved eighteen jewels, adjusted eight ways, a specification reserved for watches expected to keep time seriously rather than simply to dress well. The same signature is stamped inside the French gold case, so the piece carries its originality on both halves, case and calibre answering each other.
It winds, sets and runs as it should, and the stamps inside the back read sharply.
The marks, the movement and the condition are set out in the drawers below.
Room III · The Dial
Reading the dial · tap a number
- 1Cartier in scriptThe Cartier signature written in script below twelve.
- 2Black Roman numeralsBlack Roman numerals set inside the track.
- 3Railway minute trackA railway minute track. There is no seconds hand; the symmetry is the point.
- 4Breguet-style handsTwo blued steel Breguet-style hands, the only things that move on the dial.
- 5Silvered, two pinpointsA clean silvered surface, the modern choice for the period, with two pinpoint spots near 4 and 9.
- 6Extra-flat bombeThe extra-flat bombe case, 46.9mm, drawn in one unbroken curve from the polished bezel to the domed back.
- 7Oval bow, fluted crownA plain gold oval bow and a finely fluted crown: the whole vocabulary of the outside.
Beneath the case
Open each drawer to look closer
Mark 1
E.W.& C. Co. Inc. France
The case signature of the European Watch & Clock Co., struck at manufacture above the case number 8875.
signature
case no. 8875
Mark 2
French gold punches
A hexagonal assay punch and the case maker's lozenge, struck into the interior of the back.
assay
poinçon
Part A
Doubled engraving
18 Eighteen Jewels and 8 Eight Adjustments, the count in figures and words required for import to the United States.
Part B
Compensation balance
Cut bimetallic balance with a blued overcoil hairspring.
Part C
Index regulator
Regulator index set against an engraved Avance and Retard scale.
Part D
Wolf-tooth winding
Wolf-tooth winding wheels, a high-grade finishing choice.
Case
Excellent
Lightest handling marks near the band edge only; interior stamps crisp; back never engraved.
Dial
Excellent
Clean silvered surface; two pinpoint spots near the numerals at 4 and 9.
Movement
Excellent
Bright and clean throughout; winds, sets and runs correctly.
Crystal
Excellent
No chips or scratches visible.
Crown
Excellent
Fluting sharp, winding smooth.
46.9
This watch
25.75
€2 coin
A €2 coin is 25.75 mm. This case is more than two and a half times its area.
Room IV · The Record
Signed on movement and case.
The movement is engraved 18 Eighteen Jewels and 8 Eight Adjustments, the count in figures and words required for import to the United States, and signed E.W.&C. Co. Inc. Swiss. The case is stamped E.W.& C. Co. Inc. France, numbered 8875, matching the band numbers 8875 / 8754, with French gold marks struck beside the signature.
- Model
- Montre de poche extra-plate
- Maker
- Cartier
- Movement
- European Watch & Clock Co. Inc., manual wind, Swiss lever
- Jewels
- 18
- Adjustments
- 8
- Diameter
- 46.9mm
- Case
- 18ct yellow gold, open face, made in France
- Case Number
- 8875 (band 8875 / 8754)
- Dial
- Silvered, black Roman numerals, railway minute track
- Hands
- Blued steel, Breguet style
- Complications
- None
- Era
- C.1925
The Estate Collection
Room V · Acquisition
€15.000
We’d love to discuss our passion for this piece with you.
Cartier
€15.000
Enquiry
Extra-Flat, Eight Adjustments
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