Drive de Cartier: Driven By Passion

With the recent release of the cheap replica Drive de Cartier watches, the brand once again heads back to its roots: fitting active gentlemen with an elegant timepiece for the road.

Believe it or not, Cartier actually has quite a rich history when it comes to driver’s watches, but has never been very outspoken about it.

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In the decades immediately following Cartier having outfitted Alberto Santos-Dumont with the very first wristwatch for men to accompany him on his aviation adventures, Cartier’s male clientele was delighted with a collection of driver’s watches.

Cars really went through rapid developments in those days, and much of Cartier’s clientele comprised motor enthusiasts who enjoyed getting behind the wheel of their Bugattis, Hispano-Suizas, or Duesenbergs.

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Some of these driver’s watches were created so that the whole watch sat on the side of the wrist with the display turned to the driver, while others had the dial slightly rotated off-center like that of the Cartier Tank Asymétrique.

More recently, Cartier continued the driver’s tradition by having a special edition of the Lincoln Town Car named after it, which was outfitted with a Cartier branded clock, but more prominent was of course the sale replica watches Cartier Roadster collection.

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The Roadster made its debut in 2003, an interesting collection incorporating a chronograph and a GMT function. A limited edition was dedicated to former Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.

Driving up the middle

The Drive de Cartier fits right in the middle of the sportive Roadster and the brand’s more classic vintage pieces. It’s stylish, it’s elegant, but when you change out of your Brioni suit and throw on that weekend cashmere sweater you don’t immediately feel the need to change your watch as well.

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The cushion-shaped case of the Drive is a bit more rounded than one usually finds with this case shape. Combined with the domed sapphire crystal, it gives the Drive a real wrist presence that gets noticed.

The time-and-date version is powered by Cartier’s very own manufacture Caliber 1904-PS MC. Its dial is classic best fake Cartier watches with stunning guilloche stamping, a railroad track, and slightly raised Roman numerals.

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Cartier kept this dial very clean, even forgoing the usual word “automatic” printed on the dial. I would have loved to see the dial be even cleaner still – meaning without a date – but Cartier is one of those brands that, next to serving watch connoisseurs like us, also boasts a large clientele who wants a great timepiece for everyday use and feels that a date is essential.

Complicated versions

The Drive de Cartier is also available in a version powered by manufacture Caliber 1904-FU MC, meaning that it includes a large date, a retrograde display of second time zone, day/night indicator, and subsidiary seconds.

These added complications really use the space that the dial offers well, lending it even more depth than the time-only version’s dial. Of course, the practicality of these complications will also be highly appreciated by Cartier’s cosmopolitan clientele.

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The cherry on the top is the cheap fake Drive de Cartier Flying Tourbillon.

Part of Cartier’s Fine Watchmaking collection, it not only shows the symmetry that I think really gets the best out of this model, but also features a flying tourbillon. It is powered by manually wound Caliber 9452 MC, a certified Seal of Geneva movement.

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The dial features a more prominent guilloche upon which a frame featuring the Roman numerals and railroad track is placed.

The result is a true contemporary classic showing once more that Cartier still has the drive and passion to fit the more active gentleman’s lifestyle with fitting watches.

Quick Facts Drive de Cartier with time and date
Case: stainless steel or pink gold, 40 x 41 mm
Movement: automatic Caliber 1904- PS MC
Functions: hours, minutes; date
Price: $7,900 (steel), $24,400 (pink gold)

Quick Facts Drive de Cartier with large date and second time zone
Case: stainless steel or pink gold, 40 x 41 mm
Movement: automatic Caliber 1904-FU MC
Functions: hours, minutes; large date, second time zone, day/night indicator
Price: $11,100 (steel), $28,800 (pink gold)

Quick Facts Drive de Cartier Flying Tourbillon
Case: luxury replica Cartier watches pink gold, 40 x 41 mm
Movement: manually winding Caliber 9452MC with one-minute flying tourbillon
Functions: hours, minutes
Price: $114,000

Ballon Bleu De Cartier Moon Phase: Once In A Blue Moon

When a brand introduces a whole new collection, press presentations usually focus on the new addition to the family. So when Cartier introduced the Drive de Cartier, I did not expect to find a new addition to the Ballon Bleu family in one of the brand’s signature red and gold boxes.
Especially not a Ballon Bleu with moon phase.
In Cartier’s rich history, the moon phase has been largely and conspicuously absent. Why?
That is a question easier to ask than to answer. In the early days, when the brand joined forces with LeCoultre to supply many of its movements, it would have been relatively easy to obtain a movement with this complication.
That said, replica watches Cartier wouldn’t have had problems obtaining any complication for its watches, yet as complicated as its manufacture clocks were, the brand always kept its watches simple, elegant, and uncluttered.
Refined details and dials did the talking, wrapped in timeless, shaped cases.

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That does not mean that Cartier has always fully refrained from using the moon phase. The Santos, Tank Americaine, and Louis Cartier Tank all have featured models with moon phase and date hand indications, yet these are among the very few that Cartier made where the moon printed on a disk travels across a cutaway, the most traditional haute horlogerie way to display the moon phase.
Cartier has usually favored displaying the moon phase in a more unique way. The calendar and perpetual calendar Pasha de Cartier models of the 1990s all had a moon phase in which it was the disk actually moving in front of the moon to display the current state.
The same concept, but technically far more advanced, was used in the stunning Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon.
When Cartier introduced an upgrade of the Rotonde de Cartier Jour et Nuit in 2014 (and a new version again in 2016) it equipped this watch with a moon phase. Since the entire bottom half of the dial was available to do so, the brand opted for a moon phase indicated by a retrograde hand.
To come back to the original question as to why the moon phase has been largely absent from Cartier’s history, it is because it often did not suit Cartier’s design language.
Given this history, you can understand my surprise when I laid eyes on the Ballon Bleu with a traditional moon phase positioned at 9 o’clock. At that moment I had no shame, took the presented watch, and immediately strapped it onto my wrist.

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The bezel features 1.47 carats’ worth of pavé-set, brilliant-cut, colorless diamonds, but I didn’t care. I also didn’t care that the watch was aimed at the female demographic. Hey, I have an x chromosome in my DNA like everyone else!
I didn’t even care that the two fashionable press colleagues from Vogue present at the presentation raised an eyebrow to my actions; fashion always starts by somebody doing something for the first time!

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It’s no secret that the Ballon Bleu has been quite a success for Cartier. It not only pleased the existing customer base, it has also appealed to quite a few clients new to the brand with a collection ranging from the understated Ballon Bleu Extra Flat to the no-holds-barred Serti Vibrant (see Rods, Springs, And Palpitating Diamonds: The Ballon Bleu De Cartier Serti Vibrant).

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As it is a well-rounded watch (pun intended), the Ballon Bleu features a design that is quite suitable to incorporating a moon phase indication.
This also becomes evident when you examine the care Cartier took to get this watch just right.

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The “canvas” is a 37 mm Ballon Bleu with an aperture at 9 o’clock for the moon phase: Cartier opted to display the state of this celestial body in the most classic way possible. At first it looks like part of the fringe holding the railroad track was cut out, but when you look closer you see that it actually continues around the moon phase indication the same way it does near the crown; only the hour and minute markers are really absent.
Cartier also cleverly alternates the guilloche pattern on the dial, pulling the moon phase complication into the overall design of the watch, yet also subtly drawing attention to the complication.

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Unless you are an amateur astronomer, a moon phase complication is pretty useless. It’s like those beautiful, handmade copper pots in your kitchen: they look great, but you never use them.
In a watch that is actually not a problem, but just like the makers of those handmade copper pots cheap replica Cartier watches online put a lot of effort in creating this moon phase module. I guess head watchmaker Carole Forestier-Kasapi and her team don’t get out of bed for anything less, but still the precision of the moon phase module is nothing less than impressive.
A clever setup with seven teeth and star-shaped gears allows the moon phase disk to make one full rotation in 59 days and 90 minutes. Since that covers two full lunar periods, the accuracy per lunation is 29 days, 12 hours and 45 minutes, creating an error of only 57.2 seconds per lunation (11 minutes and 26.4 seconds a year).

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You probably won’t notice it, but please make sure to tell your grandchildren that they tell their grandchildren that a little over a hundred years from now, they need to reset the moon phase by one full day.
Did I already mention that the moon phase is an actual module? One that sits on top of the movement? I have been told by luxury fake watches Cartier that it not only fits on externally sourced calibers, but can also easily be adapted for use on Caliber 1904 MC and 1847 MC.
That is very good news because, unlike me, you might not jump at the opportunity of putting a gold-encased, diamond-set 37 mm ladies’ watch on your wrist.

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However, if this was a gold or stainless steel Calibre de Cartier on a leather strap, it would would probably be a whole different ball game for you, and that might just be what Cartier has in store for us in the near future.
Quick Facts
Case: 37 mm, pink gold or white gold set with 1.47 ct diamonds
Movement: automatic ETA Caliber 2671 with moon phase module developed by Cartier
Functions: hours, minutes, seconds; moon phase indication
Price: $37,100 (cheap fake Cartier pink gold on leather strap), $39,700 (white gold), $52,500 (pink gold with pink gold bracelet)

Hands On With the Luxury Replica Cartier High Jewellery Koinobori Secret Watch in Asia

The Cartier High Jewelry Koinobori Secret watch is a unique creation from the celebrated French maison. Launched in Hong Kong last year at Watches & Wonders, the region’s premier watch event, this one-of-a-kind bracelet holds a beautiful secret: a hidden watch dial.

 

For this latest piece, Cheap replica Cartier watches for sale found inspiration in traditional Japanese culture. An allegory of the passing of time, an ocean wave inspired the brand to create the high jewellery Koinoboru secret watch, where the balletic journey of carps is depicted, as in a traditional Japanese painting. Koinobori, literally means “carp streamer” in Japanese. The carp-shaped wind socks are flown as a tradition in Japan to celebrate the Tango no sekku festival.

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The fake Cartier watches 18-carat white-gold cuff is formed using sixteen oval-cut rubies from Mozambique, each nearly one carat, totalling 16.66 carats. The rubies gleam brightly amongst the sparkling tide of diamonds on the bracelet.

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A striking feat of design, Cartier’s master craftsmen spent around one thousand hours in the creation of the piece. The Koinobori Secret watch evokes the continuous and regular movement of a river.

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A small hidden clasp, when pressed, reveals the watch dial. The watch sits comfortably and elegantly on the wrist and feels wonderfully sophisticated.Replica Cartier watches for sale online.