Cartier Ladies Santos Dumont

The Tank isn’t the only prominent wristwatch from luxury powerhouse Cartier.  Predating the Tank Louis by nearly two decades, the original Santos model was designed in 1904, and has seen any number of iterations in the past century — including a brilliant revival in recent years. Available in quartz, hand-wound and automatic varieties in different metals and configurations, it’s an important historical model and one of the maison’s finest creations.  This particular Santos, a Reference 7809, features a 20mm 18k yellow gold case with an exceptionally rare 18k yellow gold 'beads of rice' bracelet with signed hidden deployant clasp, polished bezel and sapphire cabochon winding crown. Paired with a white dial with printed black ‘Roman’ indices and a blued-steel 'sword' handset, this piece speaks volumes about the maison’s design chops and the tastes of the person who wears it. This 1980s gem comes with a rare hand wound movement, and on a leather strap it would already be a timepiece worth heaps of admiration, but fitted to this incredible  matching yellow gold bracelet, it is taken to an entirely new level that few of its contemporaries can compete with.  Try it on and tell us that we’re wrong!