Shopping Time: Cartier Tank Prices Keep Rising. Here Are 5 Classics to Buy Before It’s Too Late.
We are always scouring the web for the most amazing watches currently available, and each Friday we share five standout pieces with you.
If you just have to see these five amazing Tanks we’ve curated right away, scroll as you see fit.
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But, unless you’re already an expert, we feel it’s important to get your head around some context on Cartier watches before diving into the wonderful world of Tanks.
We’ve been bringing you, our fellow collectors, some happy news lately, stating that the global watch market continues to lose value. This has created a sustained buyer’s market. Using market analysis tools, we’ve shown that most Rolex models generally, GMT-Masters specifically, Patek Philippe’s Nautilus, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and even the highly collectible vintage Omega Speedmaster continue to dip in price.
And then there’s the curious case of Cartier, which keeps going up.
Cartier as a brand has experienced a 7.27 percent increase in market performance over the past 12 months according to ChronoPulse (Chrono24’s data tool), with much of that increase coming in the last three months alone. Custom Cartier watches and rare vintage pieces are through the roof, while the standard model Tanks also are going up, but remain relatively more attainable.
Why is Cariter on the rise?
That’s a difficult question to answer. Watch trends are as predictable as weather, but smaller watches and dressier watches are as undeniably on the rise as this summer’s heat. When the very small Cartier Tank Mini swept headlines during Watches & Wonders this year, we knew the small watch trend had momentum. Then, just this week, our local pizza guy told us he is saving for a smaller Rolex Datejust, because, as he said, “I just can’t wear a big watch. I need a 36 mm piece, bro.” Meanwhile, stars like Pharrell Williams are pushing high jewelry and Usher is rocking tiny gold watches. For whatever reasons, small and dressy things are having a moment.
Trends can disrupt one’s sensibilities, and shopping a new category can be confusing. But with Cartier watches, the situation can feel overwhelming. When you dip a toe into the vast ocean of Cartier watches, you find yourself adrift in endless choice. Narrowing it down to the Cartier Tank should make things easier, right? Guess again: There are seemingly endless iterations and sub-models of the Tank scattered across the vintage and pre-owned markets. For these reasons, we not only curated five of the very best vintage Cartier Tanks on the market today, but we have gone straight down to the most refined, and most classic Tank there is: The Cartier Tank Louis.
As history has it, Louis Cartier first designed the Tank watch and released it in 1917. Being an obsessive designer, Louis soon refined the initial design and offered a second iteration. In the Paris atelier, the craftspeople and business folks began to refer to the first design as the Tank normale, while the second design that Louis favored became the Tank Louis. There were not carefully thought-out product names, just organic shorthand among co-workers. When these names were adopted into official Cartier-speak is not clear, but these are the real model names today.
The Tank Louis specifically saw an elongation of the rectangle and a softening of the corners of the rails that run vertically along the sides. These rails are known as brancards, which roughly translates to “rails” in French, but also means “stretcher,” as in what you’d take a wounded soldier away in (you can picture the two wooden slats on either side of the stretcher, perhaps). No one refers to them as “the tracks” as you might expect for a watch said to resemble a military Tank (a name we believe was tagged on after the watch was already completed, this in contradiction of lore that says the military vehicle inspired the design). When people speak of Cartier Tanks, the word brancards gets thrown around along with cabochon, which is the name of the jewel atop the crow (usually a blue sapphire).
Watch expert James Lamdin of Analog:Shift told Robb Report that, “The Tank Louis is not only an icon of watch design favored by fashionable wearers for a century, but often represents a more utilitarian-minded collector’s first step into the realm of dress timepieces. As such, it isn’t just the Louis’ perfect symmetry, stylish dial, or bold brancards that make it so important a model—it’s the entire world of elevated, design-forward timepieces for which it acts as a gatekeeper.”
We agree with Lamdin, and would put another spin on his take: If you’re only going to have one small dress watch in precious metal, make it a Cartier Tank Louis. We run out of fingers when we count collector friends who own baskets full of tool watches a then also just one Tank Louis. There’s good reason for that, because the Tank Louis is a stone cold classic.
It’s helpful to know the rough history of the Tank in order to understand our recommendation of the Louis model. The first Tank came out in 1917, and it turned the wristwatch into a fashionable item, such that by the 1930s wrist watches were starting to outsell pocket watches. Three houses of Cartier produced Tanks, one each in Paris, London and New York. By 1974, Cartier had sold all three branches, ending an era. It was during the 1970s that mechanical Tanks gave way to quartz models, as well as the affordable, gold-plated Must de Cartier Tanks designed to compete with counterfeits. Folks like Andy Warhol had made the Tank so popular in the 1970s that the watch sadly descended the luxury food chain to swim among horological bottom feeders. (Despite this, the Must de Cartier Tanks of the 1970s are popular with some collectors, and prices have shot up wildly in the past few years.)
In 1998, Cartier seems to have noticed its inability to overcome it’s reputation for poor quality watches, and the company initiated the highly-regarded CPCP program, which stands for Collection Privée Cartier Paris. CPCP watches were beautifully produced, and included mechanical movements from high end Swiss makers. CPCP models remain highly collectible today, but with this week’s curation we are going further back.
We have curated only the very best vintage Cartier Tank Louis models available for sale right now. These are all mechanical models in solid precious metals—no quartz, and no gold-plating, and all five are pre-CPCP. In other words, these five watches are at the very top of the horological food chain, and even more elevated today as vintage collectibles.
Let’s dig in.
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1960s Cartier Tank Louis in Yellow Gold | €14,900 (~$11,840)
The 1960’s represent the final period of the three main houses of Cartier operating under the ownership of Pierre, Claude, and Jean-Jacques. The Tank was 50 years on at this stage, but was still relatively rare in many configurations as the watch had yet to enter mass production. Dials signed “Paris” remain highly sought after for what it represents, as the Paris location, run by Louis until 1942, and by Pierre until 1947, was the birthplace of many of the original Tank variations. That allure remains strong to collectors and enthusiasts today.
This Tank Louis hails from the late 1960s, and uses a hand-wound Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber 818/2 movement. The case is rendered in yellow gold and is held in remarkable condition. The dial shows some small signs of age, but the original character is beautifully preserved here. We particularly love the way the broadsword hands have faded ever so slightly, matching the deep blue cabochon in the crown. Overall this is a lovely piece of Cartier history that represents a defining moment in time for the brand.
1965 Cartier Tank Louis ‘London’ in Yellow Gold | $24,500
While Paris is undoubtedly the flagship location for Cartier (which was recently remodeled), the London house, which was run by the youngest of the Cartier brothers, Jacques, has a unique history all its own. This is where the iconic Crash came into being in 1967, a reaction to the hip clientele of the city. Tank watches sold here did not receive a London stamp on the dial, but rather, the case featured hallmarks which placed its origins.
This example is just that, and dates to 1965. The soft yellow gold case measures 23 mm in width by 31 mm in length and uses a hand-wound caliber from Jaeger-LeCoultre. This watch also sports the original yellow gold clasp, showing another compelling example of the brand’s attention to detail. Black Roman indices surround the chemin de fer minute track, while the hands and cabochon bring a hint of deep blue to the scene. This is a beautiful time capsule that’s a nod to a cornerstone of the brand.
1970s Cartier Tank Louis ‘Jumbo’ | $15,250
Cartier has never been shy about experimenting with the Tank platform, and you could say it’s one of the defining underlying characteristics of the collection. It’s a watch that’s managed to keep up with shifting tastes without losing its identity in the process. As we’ve noted above, the 1970s was a transitional period for Cartier, which saw many of the brand’s historic shapes brought into serial production. Among them were large and small models of the Tank Normale and Tank Louis, bringing the most traditional footprint of the Tank to a new audience.
But we should take the word “jumbo” with a grain of salt. It measures 28 mm wide by 35 mm in length and houses a mark 2 dial defined by the pointed ‘A’ in the Cartier signature. Unlike most other Tanks, this yellow gold example houses an automatic-winding movement, and as such welcomes a small bulge on the caseback to make space for an oscillating weight. The size and movement make this Tank a relative rarity, and the ‘Paris’ signed dial adds another layer of interest, as this watch comes after the consolidation of the three houses following the death of Pierre Cartier. This label, in this era, signifies the watch was sold in either Paris or London. This is a beautifully preserved example that highlights an important era of change for the brand.
1980s Cartier Tank Louis in White Gold | $14,750
The production of classic Cartier shapes that began in the 1973 carried through into the ‘80s, and this reference 96019 is the natural extension of the Tank Louis into the modern era. These are the watches that would lay the groundwork for the coming Collection Privée Cartier Paris, or CPCP, dialing Cartier back to their core principles. The Tank Louis, which came shortly after the original Tank Normale in 1917, offers a slightly more refined take on the formula, with softer edges and more rectangular dial proportions. It is the archetype of the Tank today, and we owe that in part to how it was preserved through this era of upheaval.
This example, on offer from Analog:Shift, is presented in a beautiful white gold case with a hound-wound movement based on the Frédéric Piguet Cal. 21. This allows for an exceptionally thin and elegant experience on the wrist, which makes up a large part of this watch’s charm. A sapphire cabochon sits along the side of the case with a bright blue hue, contrasting a crisp white dial with black printed Roman indices. This is a stunning neo-vintage take on the original and it captures every bit of the brilliance.
Cartier Tank Reference 1601 in Platinum | $22,900
This is a modern-era Tank reference 1601 with a Paris signed back and a case that’s been rendered in platinum, a historically significant material for the brand. Alfred Cartier (son of the brand’s founder, Louis-Fran?ois) was the first jeweler to successfully incorporate platinum into his work. The material’s rarity and high melting temperature had made it a challenging proposition, but through the 19th century it would appear in Cartier’s ‘Garland Style’ work, and eventually make its way into their watch cases as well.
The reference 1601 is an ultra-flat watch, with the iconic case measuring a mere 5.5mm thick. It utilizes a hand-wound Cartier 21MC caliber, which is based on the Frédéric Piguet Cal. 21. This reference did get a few variations, including a salmon dial, but this example, offered by Wind Vintage, gets a cream colored guilloché dial that pairs beautifully with the dark blue cabochon and hands. This may be pre-CPCP, but it presents the core Tank formula beautifully in a very significant material to the brand.
Please note that we are not affiliated with the sellers of the watches we recommend. We may point out aspects of a listing that we feel are positive, but only you can vet a seller. We can recommend viewing our video “How to Collect It: Vintage Watches” to glean some best practices, however.
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