Watches and Wonders Edit: Classic Cartier models updated for 2023 – the Tank Normale joins the Privé collection, the Clash Unlimited gets beads and bevels, and La Panthère is rendered in 3D

May 2 , 2023

Cartier’s Clash Unlimited has been given a luxurious makeovers. Photos: Cartier

Introduced more than a century ago by Louis Cartier, the Tank was inspired by the WWI fighting machines developed by Renault, with a prototype given to American general John Pershing

The Clash Unlimited recalls the spirit of designer Jeanne Toussaint who was made Cartier’s director of fine jewellery in 1933 – and nicknamed La Panthère

Cartier has built an enviable reputation as a watchmaker that combines a respect for the numerous classics from its own history with a relentless dedication to innovation, updating those much-loved styles with contemporary touches. It reflects the maison’s unique position as a company with a background in jewellery that is taken equally seriously as a watchmaker, with a horological heritage stretching back more than a century, a reputation for groundbreaking in-house movements and a generous sprinkling of collections that have found their way into watchmaking history.

Different versions of the Cartier Privé Tank Normale.

The way Cartier expertly navigates the delicate balancing act between tradition and innovation is in evidence across the watches unveiled by the venerable Parisian watchmaker and jeweller at Watches and Wonders 2023. It includes an update of one of the ultimate Cartier cult watches – the Tank – that also belongs to the house’s most exclusive collection; an elegant new rendition of the Clash collection, and a new horological home for that most instantly recognisable of Cartier motifs, the panther.

The Cartier Privé collection has long been the repository for the most special Cartier watches of all – the undisputed classics from the most coveted among its collections, each of which comes individually numbered for extra exclusivity. For 2023, the collection welcomes its seventh watch: the Tank Normale.

The Cartier Privé collection welcomes the new Tank Normale in 2023.

Cartier fans, and anyone with a love of watches, needs no introducing to the Tank. As the jewel in the crown of the maison’s watchmaking undertakings, it was developed more than a century ago by Louis Cartier, inspired by the fighting machines developed by Renault and used in the First World War; in fact, a prototype was given to American general John Pershing. The watch was a head-turning trailblazer at the time, particularly for its instantly recognisable rectangular case, which promptly upended the convention that wristwatches should be round.

The new watch, the Tank Normale, comes with classic Tank features including blued hands and a cabochon on the winding crown, in an hour/minute version in yellow gold with a brown alligator strap, and in platinum with a black alligator strap. In a first for the Cartier Privé collection, it is also available with bracelets of yellow gold and platinum.

Additionally, it comes in a version with a skeleton movement that features a 24-hour complication marked by a sun and crescent moon, also skeletonised. With an hour hand that takes 24 hours to circle the dial instead of the usual 12, it displays the daytime hours on the upper half of the dial and nighttime hours below. It is available in a limited edition of 50, in yellow gold on a brown and green alligator strap, and in platinum on a burgundy and grey alligator strap. An even more exclusive version of the skeletonised watch, in a limited edition of 20, features a case set with brilliant-cut diamonds and alligator straps in two shades of blue.