Trust the artistry of Cartier watches to bring a touch of magic to the third edition of the Watches & Wonders salon held in Hong Kong this year. The Clé de Cartier collection - unveiled at the SIHH salon in 2015 - appeared in two declinations set out to defy the laws of gravity and reality.
See more of the Clé de Cartier collection
The Clé de Cartier Mysterious Hour watch was a showstopper and incorporates Cartier’s signature mystery movement, allowing the hour and minute hands to float in space with no visible connection to the movement. The mystery movement was invented by one of Cartier’s watchmakers in 1912 who was fascinated by the clocks of Robert Houdin - the famous French illusionist and father of modern magic. By uniting a mysterious hour complication with the curvaceous case of the new Clé collection, with its distinctive rectangular-shaped crown - a reminder of the days when pocket watches required a key to be wound - the hands on this Cartier watch literally gravitate around the off-centred black dial. But there’s more. The openwork dial with large blue Roman numerals affords a view of the mechanical manual-winding movement and, if you turn the watch over, you will discover a secondary dial on the caseback. Presented in a 41mm case, these luxurious Cartier watches for men will be available in palladium and rose gold.
A tourbillon is a fascinating complication in itself, but if you house it in a white gold case sprinkled with 478 brilliant-cut diamonds, the effect is absolutely hypnotic. The 35mm white gold Clé de Cartier Flying Tourbillon women’s watch is faithful to the original Clé collection and although it has applied diamonds to parts of the crown, the hallmark rectangular-shaped crown glows with a sapphire.
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Also on display at Watches & Wonders was a limited-edition box - only five will be made - containing three grand complications obviously destined to catch the eye of collectors. All three Cartier watches, housed in luxurious 45mm platinum and titanium cases, share gorgeous deep blue enamelled and guillochéd dials and enough complications to last a lifetime.
The Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Double Tourbillon is the apex of watchmaking creativity. The tourbillon literally floats in space bereft of apparent anchorage, just like the hands on the Cartier mystery clocks. Next up is the Minute Repeater Flying Tourbillon, which chimes time on demand and, last but not least, a prodigious perpetual calendar complication housed in the Rotonde de Cartier Astrocalendaire, with its original concentric display of the days, months and date, crowned in the centre with ... you guessed it … a flying tourbillon.
Read about Cartier on the list of best men's watches
