CARTIER - The Calibre launch celebrates the brand’s first automatic calibre

Cartier courts the men – or so they think

WORLDTEMPUS – January 21, 2010

Carol Besler


Cartier’s launch of the Calibre watch for men, featuring its first in-house automatic movement, is part of an overall strategy to strengthen the men’s side of the brand’s watch collections. In the past, Cartier’s men’s watches have been either unisex and therefore intended to be worn by women as well as men, or simply coveted by women even when they are launched as men’s brands. Pasha is a case in point.

Captive XL by Cartier. Franck Dieleman © Cartier 2009

Rumour has it that so determined is Cartier to establish the Calibre as a men’s watch that the women working in the booth at this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, currently underway in Geneva, are forbidden to wear it. The Calibre contains the Cartier calibre 1904MC automatic movement, with a starting price of US$6,500 in steel. It is a twin barrel movement with a 48-hour power reserve, and is housed in a Rotonde case, with its distinctive rounded case sides. It will be available in April, and will no doubt be seen on the wrists of women all over the world shortly after that.

Calibre by Cartier © Franck Dieleman

In order to distract the ladies from the Calibre, Cartier also introduced the Captive de Cartier, which, in the largest of three sizes, is a distinctively large 50mm in width (there is also a 35mm and a 27mm). The distinctive feature of the round watch is a diamond-set clasp that attaches to the case through a window in the dial at 12 o’clock.