Cartier Santos

The most elegant of everyday luxury watches 

Words - Taj Hayer 

Photography - Nicholas Andrews

Shot on location at Watchfinder, Royal Exchange London

In 2018 Cartier took the decision to relaunch one of its most unique watches. It is a decision that the industry is most thankful for. 

To understand why the Santos is so important to the world of modern watches, one needs to go right back to the beginning. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, watches were worn as pocket watches, strapped to the wrist. The Santos was the first watch designed to be worn on the wrist, making it the world’s very first wristwatch. Originally created in 1904 by Louis Cartier for his Brazilian aviator friend, Alberto Santos-Dumont who needed a timekeeper he could check without having to take his hands of the controls of his aircraft. The watch that Cartier designed was a little gold one, with exposed screws and a square face. 7 years later, the Santos was put Into production where a refined version of that original design was sold to rich Parisians and the watch setting the benchmark for the square face design. 

Over time, the design became more refined with defining characteristics of the current model such as the square dial with Roman numerals, square care and screws in the bezel were all added. The two-tone steel and yellow gold bracelet came in 1978. 

Cartier’s pioneering history and understanding of how to update the watch to move with the times, make it a perfect luxury watch for everyday. It is supremely slim and curvy in the way that the lugs effortlessly flow into the crown guards. The case is only 8.83mm thick which allows it to integrate nicely with the bracelet. The dial is classic, and looks like the one that Santos would have been looking down at whilst landing paper planes. Cartier’s SmartLink system means that you can resize it yourself and also interchange the beautiful strap with a selection of leather ones. 

From £5,150 and available from Cartier at Watchfinder.