Cartier

While the official release of the Cartier Baignoire occurred in 1957, the first unofficial Baignoire was created in 1912 when Louis Cartier took the traditional round watch shape and stretched it, creating two parallel lines enclosed by curves. The oval-shaped wristwatch was presented to his best individual client at the time, the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. The subsequent commercial iteration, aptly named Baignoire after the French word for bathtub, has retained lasting success and exclusivity throughout the 20th century and 21st centuries, with everything from exquisite high joaillerie examples having been produced, to mini quartz-powered pieces, to the Maxi Oval Baignoire measuring over 58mm in length. 

The present example, a medium-sized model of the Baignoire Paris dating to the 1960s, was gifted by Charlie Chaplin to his wife Oona Chaplin sometime in the 1960s. A firm favorite of hers, the watch was worn regularly by Oona, and is likely the last watch Charlie ever bought for her before his death in 1977.

The daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neil, Oona O’Neil first met Charlie Chaplin in 1942 when she was just 18 years old. Chaplin, who had already received widespread acclaim since he began his acting career in 1913 with such cinematic masterpieces as The Kid (1921), City Lights (1931), and The Great Dictator (1940), was 53 at the time. Yet, despite the significance of their age difference, the two fell deeply in love and defied the odds to be together. Their romance began in the 1940s, leading to a passionate courtship that culminated in marriage in 1943. This union was not without controversy, as the 36-year age gap raised eyebrows, but their enduring love proved the skeptics wrong. "As I live with Oona, the depth and beauty of her character are a continual revelation to me," Chaplin wrote in his autobiography, to which he lovingly dedicated to Oona. "Even as she walks ahead of me along the narrow sidewalks of Vevey with simple dignity, her neat little figure straight, her dark hair smoothed back showing a few silver threads, a sudden wave of love and admiration comes over me for all that she is—and a lump comes into my throat." A poignant symbol of their enduring love, the present timepiece stands as a sentimental testament to their eternal bond.

Accompanied by a signed letter from Bernadette Chaplin confirming that the watch was gifted by Charlie Chaplin to his wife Oona Chaplin, we are pleased to offer this lot in overall very good condition.