Cartier

8-day wristwatches by Cartier are exceedingly rare. According to our research, probably less than 10 Cartier 8-day wristwatches made in the 1930’s- 1940’s are known. They were produced in different materials such as yellow, pink & white gold and platinum.

The present Cartier 8-day is in stainless steel and we believe that it is possibly unique. It features a beautiful twin-barrel European Watch & Clock Co. movement with two mainsprings, that can store enough energy for the watch to run continuously for eight straight days. The “ébauche” used for this movement is from LeCoultre cal. 124, which is almost identical to the Eight Day movement found in the Patek Philippe watch no.198.451, sold at Sotheby's New York in 1987 (lot 178)

To house this rectangular twin-barrel movement, the case shape that imposed itself was the "Tank Allongée". Contrary to the standard Tank and Tank Cintrée wristwatches of the 1920s and 30s, the case of the 8-day "Tank Allongée" is straight but features unusual down turned angular lugs. The size of the watch is perfectly suited for today’s taste in large watches.

With the arrival of self-winding, automatic wristwatches, the cost of producing Eight Day movements proved prohibitive; this would explain the extremely small numbers made.

Without any doubt the present Cartier "Tank Allongée Eight Day" perfectly exemplifies Cartier’s heritage of style and design and is among the most elegant Cartier wristwatches ever made.