Cartier Tortue

Though Cartier has produced numerous fine mechanical watches during its 170-plus year history, by the 1990s the brand was known primarily as a producer of quartz pieces. In an effort to rejuvenate their status as a premier manufacture, in 1998 Cartier launched the Collection Privée Cartier Paris, or CPCP for short. The Collection Privée resurrected classic wristwatch designs from the Cartier archives and utilized high-grade mechanical movements from the likes of Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Girard-Perregaux.  One watch that received the “reissue” treatment was the Tortue. Conceived in 1912, the Torture featured an entirely different silhouette than that of the more traditional Tank. While their Tank collection grew to include a number of shapes — Française, Louis, Cintrée, and Basculante, just to name a few — the Tortue stood out with its sensuous, tortoise-inspired curves that lent themselves well to many different watches, from time-only models to more involved complications. Though all iterations are excellent, we’d argue that it’s the time-only versions that paint the most elegant picture. This particular Tortue, a Reference 66035, dates to roughly the 80s. Housed in a 20mm 18K yellow gold case tonneau with a sapphire crystal, a smooth bezel, and a blue cabochon crown, it features a shimmering white dial with painted black ‘Roman’ indices, an outer chemin de fer minute track, and a classic blued steel handset. Powered by a quartz movement, it comes paired to a signed, yellow gold bracelet with a unique pattern and finish. A beautiful alternative to the Tank, the Tortue is a gorgeous piece of design in any format. This yellow-gold example, however, exists on an entirely different plane. Classic in its proportions and beautifully balanced, it’s an easy sell no matter the wrist.