Welcome to the latest installment in our Cost of Entry series. In this aBlogtoWatch feature, we examine different brands through the lens of their most affordable model. Having previously looked at the entry-level offerings of Rolex, Omega, Panerai, and Hublot… today, a name well-known even far outside the world of watches: Cartier. And none other than the iconic Tank, in the form of the Cartier Tank Solo XL Automatic replica watches, represents the most affordable mechanical men’s watch Cartier offers, at around US$3,500. The question is, however, what exactly you get with the Cartier Tank Solo XL Automatic and how well it represents the brand.
We don’t need to tell you that Cartier is one of the world’s most well-known luxury brands. While I like to approach this series as a brand study rather than as how to buy into a prestigious name for the least amount of money possible… Cartier’s prestige and recognizability are undeniably a huge draw for a great many people around the world. Cartier has achieved a remarkably cohesive identity and consistency across a wide range of products, but where does the Cartier Tank Solo XL fit in to that? In this article, we want to look at what exactly the Cartier Tank Solo XL offers in terms of value, history, horological interest, style, and that more vague quality that is Cartier essence. The Cartier Tank turning 100 years old in 2017 also makes it timely to revisit its story that is a big part of the watch we are looking at today.
Short History Of The Cartier Tank
Founded in Paris, France, by Louis-François Cartier in 1847, Cartier as a company will be 170 years old in 2017, but is no longer a small family-run jeweler, of course. The three grandsons of the founder were Louis, Pierre, and Jacques, and together they oversaw Cartier’s expansion to become a globally recognized name – Louis being the most central to our story. The next Cartier generation, the children of the three brothers, sold the business in the 1970s to an investor group. And finally, in 2012, Cartier leather strap fake watches joined the Richemont Group where it resides today among illustrious colleagues of haute horlogerie.
Entire books have been written about Cartier and even about the Cartier Tank watch itself, and the basic story that Louis Cartier based the Tank design on the shape of WWI tanks seen on the Western Front is probably familiar to many readers. Cartier made clocks, pocket watches, and women’s wristwatches before wristwatches for men began to catch on – and when men did begin to wear wristwatches, Cartier played a major role in their wider adoption and the Cartier Tank was an important part of the transition from pocket to wrist.
Entire books have been written about Cartier copy watches and even about the Cartier Tank watch itself, and the basic story that Louis Cartier based the Tank design on the shape of WWI tanks seen on the Western Front is probably familiar to many readers. Cartier made clocks, pocket watches, and women’s wristwatches before wristwatches for men began to catch on – and when men did begin to wear wristwatches, Cartier played a major role in their wider adoption and the Cartier Tank was an important part of the transition from pocket to wrist.