Cartier Calatrava 'European Watch & Clock Company' Dress Watch

No, it’s not a Tank. And yes, it deserves your attention! While Parisian jeweler to the stars Cartier may be best known in horological circles for its famed Tank watch, the French firm produced — and continues to produce — numerous other watch models that deserve equal billing for their unique and sumptuous designs. This is something truly special, however: A Calatrava-type dress watch from the 1950s, it dates to the classic period of peak Cartier creativity and coincides with the era of the gold presentation watch — a timepiece given to an employee for decades of outstanding service. Measuring 34mm in yellow gold with an acrylic crystal, a smooth bezel, and an unsigned crown, it features a patinated silver dial with an open minute track in black, applied 'wedge' and 'Arabic' indices, and a matching gold 'dauphine' handset. Powered by a hand-wound movement from the European Watch and Clock Company — Cartier's movement business built in partnership with Edmund Jaeger — it features a screw-down caseback with a personalized engraving to a gentleman from his employees in appreciation of 22 years of faithful service. Paired to a brown leather strap with cream-colored top stitching and a yellow gold pin buckle, this is the type of Cartier timepiece that you can be sure no one else at the cocktail party will be wearing!