Category: Replica Cartier Watches

“When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held it against the light. It’s a bonny thing,’ said he. ‘Just see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil’s pet baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history.'” – Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle

This might seem a rather ominous way to start off a look at one of the most spectacular objects we saw at the Salon this year: the Cartier Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré, a gem-set pendant tourbillon watch, and a unique piece. But I mention it as a way of underscoring the irrational passion that gemstones can arouse. Now, this is an horologically interesting creation – the movement, exact fake Cartier caliber 9463 MC, is a double mystery tourbillon, like the Rotonde de Cartier Double Mystery Tourbillon wristwatch – and to say that the mechanism is incidental to the appeal of the Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré would be doing its ingenuity an injustice.

But while not incidental, mechanics in this case is definitely here not to take center stage, but to lend itself to the larger, overall aesthetic effect of the timepiece. Think of it as a wearable mystery clock.

 

The appeal of precious gems is one of the best examples I can think of, of really purely irrational desire. Diamonds are of course just the tip of the iceberg in this respect; colored stones especially seem to arouse the beast in people (as Holmes remarks in The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle, “carbuncle” being an old English term for any colored stone – generally red). The most famous blue precious gem by far, and an exemplar of just how much aura these stones can have, is the famous, and notorious, Hope Diamond, around which legends have sprouted like mushrooms after a thunderstorm. The Hope Diamond is said to have originally adorned the eye of an idol, and naturally, is also said to carry a curse. Cheap replica Cartier watches online.

Certainly, the fates of many of its owners are both lurid and varied; as reported by the New York Times in 1911, they include King Louis XVI (who owned the stone from which the Hope was cut: the French Blue) and others, who were, “torn to pieces by a mob,” “thrown from a precipice,” “murdered by her sweetheart,” and, perhaps most colorfully, “torn to pieces by wild dogs in Constantinople,” (although “died in misery and want” – the fate of one Francis Deaulieu – has a fine, morbid, Late Victorian ring to it).

However, no such aura surrounds the Cartier Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré – though it does have, as the gemological mate to the horological fantasia that is the double mystery tourbillon, a quite magnificent blue stone as its centerpiece. The gem is a sapphire, nearly 26 carats in weight, which forms the detachable pendant to the main, diamond encrusted body of the timepiece.

The latter is in the form of a stylized butterfly. The sapphire was mined in Ceylon – long a source for sapphires; Ceylonese sapphires can vary considerably in depth of color, though the most desirable are a saturated cornflower blue.

It’s always interesting, too, to reflect on the very pedestrian nature of the basic ingredients of something so valuable. Diamonds, after all, are nothing but “crystallized charcoal,” as Holmes remarks later in The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle. (Diamonds, being carbon, will also burn, as it turns out, although the ignition temperature is high enough that demonstrations usually use an external oxygen source.) Sapphires aren’t carbon, but they are another pretty ordinary material: corundum, an aluminum oxide, which is generally used as an industrial abrasive. It’s also very hard, of course, which is why synthetic sapphire’s so popular for watch crystals (and sometimes cases as well).

 

The case and chain of the Cartier Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré are in rhodiumized white gold.

White diamonds, white metal (either white gold or platinum) and blue sapphire are all both symbolic of Cartier, and a part of its heritage of design. Lots of folks like to object to the blue cabochon on the crown of modern replica Cartier watches but asking Cartier to abandon the cabochon would be like asking Rolex to abandon the crown (and the fact that Cartier retains it in its modern watches is something I admire about them – exactly the sort of tangible connection to a company’s history one wants).

At € 1.2 million, it’s already sold, and whomever wears it is going to have one of the most irrationally desirable timepieces of the year. It was quite literally the last thing we saw at the Salon, and just as well; anything else would have been anticlimactic.

High Jewelry Tourbillon Mystérieux Azuré watch, manufacture mechanical movement with manual winding and mysterious double tourbillon, caliber 9463 MC. Case and chain in rhodiumized 18K white gold set with a faceted oval-shaped Ceylon sapphire of 25.93 carats, with 1,017 brilliant-cut diamonds totaling 15.92 carats, with 31 rose-cut diamonds totaling 1.00 carat, with 18 baguette-cut diamonds totaling 2.45 carats, with 14 sapphires totaling 2.27 carats, with a princess-cut diamond for .32 carats, and with onyx, with a sapphire crystal and case-back, rhodiumized steel sword-shaped hands. Water-resistant to 3 bar (approximately 30 meters/100 feet). Unique piece. Price, € 1,200,000. Sold, but still visible in all its unobtainable glory at Cartier online.

Cartier has a few lovely chronographs in their current watch collection (very few, actually), but the company isn’t exactly known for being a producer of too many chronograph timepieces. Think of the classic Tank or Santos, or other case shapes that help define the classic French-based (Swiss Made) luxury firm whose products are so often part of an elegant lifestyle. Actually, if you think of most classic Cartier timepieces, they only indicate the time. With that said, recently, chronograph models have begun to find their way into more cheap replica Cartier timepieces such as this newer Cartier Rotonde Chronograph – and they even include an in-house made Cartier mechanical chronograph movement.

That movement is the Cartier calibre 1904-CH MC automatic chronograph which, I believe, debuted in 2013 when Cartier launched the Calibre Chronograph (hands-on here). A pretty workhorse, the 1904-CH MC is a refreshingly modern chronograph movement designed for functionality and practicality – with an attractive level of decoration, even though it is a “mass-produced” movement. I like that the movement is visible through a sapphire crystal window on the rear of the case.

The 1904-CH MC is built from 269 parts and 5.72mm thick. Operating at 4Hz (28,800 bph), the movement has 48 hours of power reserve between two barrels and, of course, features automatic winding. The chronograph has a column wheel and measures up to 12 hours. This is something that makes the layout of the 1904-CH MC movement a bit unique – that even though it is a bi-compax chronograph with just two subdials it nevertheless measures up to 12 hours. Often, chronographs with just two subdials use one for the running seconds and another for the chronograph minutes (often up to 30 only). Here, however, luxury fake Cartier watches decided to remove the running seconds hand altogether and instead offer a 12-hour chronograph. I appreciate this decision because it adds a world more of utility to the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph, and if you really want to measure seconds, all you need to do is activate the chronograph.

Also on the dial is a window for the day at 6 o’clock. I really appreciate how they kept everything nice and symmetrical on the dial of the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph. Cartier is usually quite on top of symmetry (even though some of their most interesting watches today do not have symmetrical dials) when they want to be, and the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph certainly benefits as a result. More so, aside from the Ballon Bleu Chronograph watches, the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph is currently Cartier’s most eligible “dressy chronograph,” and frankly, I find it to be one of the most appealing choices out there – with regard to the best replica Cartier Rotonde Chronograph in the steel case.

Dressy chronograph watches are on the rarer side because chronographs are often associated with sports themes. It is true that some historically sport chronograph watches have transitioned into being more formal by today’s standards, but dress chronographs aren’t, per se, rare, but certainly much less common than sport chronograph watches.

The Rotonde case serves as a great platform for a Cartier dress chronograph watch. At 40mm wide in this iteration, the case is 12.15mm thick and, here, in steel (water resistant to 30 meters). Note that Cartier also offers the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph in 18k rose gold as well as a limited edition 18k white gold version (with a cool blue and silver “panda dial”). While the precious metal versions are lovely, they are more than double the price of the steel version, so the value proposition drops off quite a bit, given the premium for gold.

Cartier’s Rotonde case design is very clever, being a moderate size but not feeling small due to the case and lug thickness. The lugs gracefully curve, and the entire case tapers up a bit from the base to the bezel. It is subtle enough to appear very traditional, but the proportions and details on the Cartier Rotonde are impressive, in my opinion. Cartier further opts for vintage-style rectangular chronograph pushers, and you of course have a distinctive Cartier crown with a beaded edge and a blue spinel cabochon. Cartier also uses blue sapphire crystal for some cabochons but the spinel looks very similar. Since both stones in this instances are synthetic, I am not sure if it is a cost issue moving over to spinel or just something about ease of production.

Suffice it to say that I rather like not only the Rotonde case but how the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph version of it is rendered. The steel version of the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph has a lightly textured silvered dial with black Roman numeral hour markers as well blue steel pomme-style hour and minute hands. The result is a very classic, very Cartier dial. It also seems that compared to some older Cartier models, the logo is getting larger on the face – but its possible that this has been around for a while and I am just noticing it now.

Even though there is no luminant on the dial, the high contrast between the face and the hands offer a welcome degree of legibility. The thick, applied chapter ring around the dial periphery adds an additional layer of depth which means that the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph dial does not appear flat – something which can often be an issue with such classic-looking watch dials. I also don’t get why on a watch like the luxury replica Cartier Rotonde Chronograph, all the hands are the right length, whereas on some other Cartier models, the hands can be too short.

Attached to the case is a black alligator strap and Cartier’s standard deployant clasp which allows you to precisely size the strap, but at the expense of some convenience, given that it is a pain to do, but solid once you’ve carefully sized the strap from both ends.

As a comfortable and attractive dress watch with a bit more visual interest (and functionality) than a time only model, the Cartier Rotonde Chronograph is a very capable everyday wear or office timepiece. It’s good for conservative types as well as those who often like more original designs but sometimes just want a really nicely refined classic. In steel, the reference CRWSRO0002 Cartier Rotonde Chronograph is $9,050. Ref. W1556238 in 18k rose gold is $23,700, and ref. W1556239 in 18k white gold (limited to 300 pieces) is $25,400.

After nearly three years of complete renovation, the Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue re-opened last week with much fanfare. The completely revamped mansion is the stuff legends are made of – much like all of Cartier. In fact, the mansion was initially purchased nearly 100 years ago with a pearl necklace.

It was in 1912 that Pierre Cartier, the grandson of founder of the brand Louis Cartier, began a search for a magnificent New York location that would rival the grand Paris Rue de la Paix flagship store. New York wasn’t easy, but eventually, right in the heart of Manhattan, he found a neo-Renaissance style mansion owned by businessman Morton F. Plant. Plant’s wife Mae had seen a natural pearl necklace (with 128 graduated natural pearls) at the cheap replica Cartier watches salon that was located on the 4th floor of a building at 712 Fifth Avenue, where the brand was initially set up. Pierre Cartier proposed to Plant that they barter the $1 million necklace for the $925,000 property. The trade is said to be one of the most astute business moves in Cartier history.

That piece of real estate at 653 Fifth Ave (at 52nd Street) has been the brand’s flagship American store since 1917. Its interior was a richly appointed mansion with large rooms and small rooms, and Cartier hired William Welles Bosworth in 1917 to transform the Morton Plant Mansion into the House of Cartier. Over the century, the exterior and main entrance have changed a few times, and in 1970, the exterior of the building was granted landmark status by the New York Preservation Commission. Since then, little has changed – until now. Just about three years ago, luxury fake Cartier made the decision to bring the interior of the mansion into the 21st century. The brand hired designer Thierry Despont as the lead architect for the two-and-a-half-year renovation.

“I wanted to give people the feeling of being in the grand house that it once was and to restore it to its full glory,” says Despont. “I don’t think there is any other store like it in the world.”

He went about focusing on lines of sight and opening the space up for a more glorious appeal. There are a multitude of rooms inspired by important people in Cartier’s history, including Jeanne Toussaint (Cartier’s most legendary artistic director), Princess Grace of Monaco (an avid fan and collector of exact replica Cartier jewels), and Pierre Cartier. The Toussaint room features fabric walls and embroidered furniture with herringbone wood floors, while the Pierre Cartier room, where classic jewels are shown, features green velvet drapes, a fireplace and wood paneling. The Princess Grace Salon features taffeta silk curtains, white walls and the crests of Monaco on the woodwork.

Other rooms with their own personality in the multi-floor mansion are named for greats such as Elizabeth Taylor, Andy Warhol, Santos Dumont, Gary Cooper and more. On the fourth floor is a luxurious Service Salon, and a seating and bar area. The fifth floor houses the brand’s workshop and the sixth floor is a private entertains space with an expansive terrace overlooking Fifth Avenue.

In total, the new boutique space is four times the size of the previous one and has been expanded from 8,600 square feet to 44,100 square feet across four floors. Everything was custom made including more than 100 different window treatments and 43 different fabrics and wall coverings. There are 30 new chandeliers inspired by the originals, and a host of more than 100 newly acquired antique pieces, including desks and furniture, comprise the overall appeal of the boutique. Cheap replica Cartier watches online.

The official opening of the event last week included a lavish party in the mansion, as well as an after party across the street. It was a star-studded gala – with the unveiling of a new three-row pearl necklace being unveiled in honor of the original necklace that was traded for the property.