Creation Of A Cult Object; the ‘Must de Cartier Tank’!

In 1977 Mr Alain-Dominique Perrin, at that time managing director at Cartier and his team, realised the ‘Les Must de Cartier’ Tank. It may look antiquated today,  with its vermeil silver case and simple quartz or mechanical wind movement,

however this watch, which paid  tribute to the original ‘Tank Louis Cartier’ model, was ahead of its time, was launched with more than a dozen different dial  options, like the well known plain blue or red versions.

This low budget Tank was a huge success, especially with the fashion crowd and trend setters, and it also attracted a whole new clientele.  In fact, the ‘Les Must de Cartier’ Tanks were so  popular and affordable  that people bought two or three at a time.   While these Must Tanks were available in a variety of unusual dial  colours,  creative diehards,  wanted even  more and had their  straps custom made!  The ‘Must de Cartier’ Tank was created and launched at a very affordable price to make it appeal during  a time when the watch industry was experiencing a downturn.

Why was this series created?

It was in the Seventies when, mainly coming  from Japan, the market was flooded with  affordable digital watches and it soon became popular,  especially  with men.  At that time too, Cartier was still producing  its  watches just in 18K gold or platinum and suffered from a decline in turnover, like other higher-priced Swiss brands. The Cartier collection was, from a price point of view,  no match, for these new, low-priced electronic Japanese timepieces. Still, the  watch to have  and the watch Cartier had  always been famous for, was the ’Tank Louis Cartier’ in 18K gold. Cartier realized that very well  and came up with that  brilliant idea, to create a  watch that paid tribute to  the original Tank, at a more affordable price. This was a radical decision.  

It was the first time, since its beginning, in early 1900 that a Tank watch was built, in a non- precious metal: silver. But it  had to retain a luxurious look and that was achieved with a gold-plated finish. The result was a gorgeous looking Tank, with  a strong resemblance to  the famous Tank LC. Wanting to  maintain the integrity of the original, ‘La Maison’ gave the new Tank its own identity by making  the  dial of the watch  different from the creamy white guilloche face of the original Tank Louis Cartier.  The designers did not come up with only one  different dial; more than a dozen different dials were presented, one more stunning than the other. Instead of picking only one, the marketing team decided to launch them all over a period of  time.

The first ‘Must de Cartier’  Tanks were released with dials in plain red,  or blue and one in black, without any numerals, just ‘The Must  de Cartier’ logo, the double C and two gold  vermeil hands. But later the versions in striped dials with three colours of gold, variations with fewer  numerals, Arabic numerals and even a limited edition Art Deco dial. In addition, a very classic looking, non vermeil silver case Tank, with blue  numerals, was added to the market. Next to these Tank models, that ran the ‘Les Must de Cartier’ show, there were also other great products in the ‘Les Must de Cartier’ line, such as, travel clocks, the well known oval lighters in various metals and finishes, pens, leather goods, the famous ‘Trinity’ or ‘Troisanneaux’ ring, various key rings etc.

The Tank watches that stood out in  this series and are still sought after, are  the ones with the red or the blue dials. From a technical point of view, these timepieces were  pretty straight forward. The first pieces were delivered in 1977 with a mecha- nical hand wound ETA caliber. The models with quartz  movement followed in 1982, but even models that have the same face, could have  either caliber.

While the ‘Les ‘Must de Cartier’ Tanks  are very affordable in the second market and are often irresistible, one needs to bear  in mind that these Tanks do not come  trouble free. After all those years, most  of the watches found on the second hand market,  need to be re-plated and often a  new glass is needed.  

Since Cartier does not  support their  ‘Must de Cartier’  line anymore,  a watchmaker needs to be found to  restore such a watch. If these  obstacles can be over come,  a Cartier Tank can be within reach.

George Cramer

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