As a proponent of leading with impeccable taste and design in its watchmaking since the year dot, Cartier has a back catalog of iconic and celebrated shapes to which it returns regularly. Some are more celebrated than others, however. The Tortue, which gets its name for its distinctive tortoise-like shape is, perhaps surprisingly, even older than the celebrated Tank. First created in 1912, it came along just seven years after the house created the first purpose-built wristwatch for pioneering aviator Alberto Santos Dumont in 1905. Basically a circle with a squared-off top and bottom, it’s a shining example of how Cartier was already exploring new shapes that prefigured the critical role it would have a decade later in the explosion of art deco. And now it’s one of the prime areas of focus for 2024’s range of new pieces.
Introduced for 2024 as part of its Privé collection—a segment of the maison’s output dedicated to its collector’s editions, now in its eighth iteration—the Tortue comes in two arresting executions. The first to leap out are two monopusher chronographs in platinum or yellow gold, based on a chronograph style first introduced in 1928. Both are driven by a movement just 4.3 mm thick (the thinnest chronograph in the Cartier armoury) and activated by the cabochon-topped crown. For those who like their Cartiers a little more discreet, the same Tortue shape is executed in platinum and yellow gold version with two-hand “hours and minutes” versions. Both the chronograph and “hours and minutes” versions come in limited editions of 200 pieces.
Nick Sullivan is Creative Director at Equire, where he served as Fashion Director from 2004 until 2019. Prior to that, he relocated from London with his young family to Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. He has styled and art directed countless fashion and cover stories for both Esquire and Big Black Book (which he helped found in 2006) in exotic,uncomfortable, and occasionally unfeasibly cold locations. He also writes extensively about men’s style, accessories, and watches. He describes his style as elegantly disheveled.
