Cartier Santos-Dumont Large 'Le 14 bis'

The Tank isn’t the only prominent wrist watch from luxury powerhouse Cartier. Predating the Tank Louis by nearly two decades, the original Santos model was designed in 1904 and went into serialized production in 1911, seeing countless iterations over 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, a stunning design object and without question one of the maison’s finest creations. This contemporary example features a 31.5mm x 43.5mm stainless steel, case with a sapphire crystal, sapphire cabochon crown and a gorgeous anthracite dial featuring a subtle, sunburst pattern, printed Roman indices and a polished yellow gold 'sword' handset for a properly Art Deco vibe. This piece is a limited edition of 500 examples made with this dial and a matching 18K yellow gold bezel, all set on a gray alligator strap. Powered by a manual-winding Calibre 430 MC movement, this piece comes fitted to its original alligator leather strap with a signed Ardillon pin buckle. Tank who?