Cartier

One of the most iconic watches from the Maison, the Cartier Crash incorporates the abstract nature of time to its asymmetrical case. In the early years, Cartier London did not create its own timepieces but would instead sell watches from Paris and Switzerland. That changed during the swinging sixties, when the head of Cartier London, Jean-Jacques Cartier, decided that they should be producing their own wristwatches. Created in 1967, two theories most often told about the genesis of the Crash design, is that it was inspired by Salvador Dali’s melting clock from the “Persistence of Memory”, or alternatively, from the case of a Cartier Baignoire deformed in a car crash. However, it was actually designed through the collaborative work of Jean-Jacques Cartier and the creative designer Rupert Emmerson.

In 1991, Cartier Paris released its own version of the Crash, this time in a limited run of 400 pieces in yellow gold and a case size of 38 mm, slightly smaller than the original London watch measuring 43 mm. This modern version is marked “Paris” on the dial and case-back. The deployant buckle designed for the series also has an asymmetrical crash design. The present watch is numbered 372 out of 400 from the Cartier Paris edition.