What attracts and draws me to Cartier is the definitive and relentless pursuit in challenging how wristwatches can be represented in a contrasting and elegant form. The legacy of Louis Cartier and its signature forms has no doubt redefined the collectors’ base and provided much inspiration from art, movies and design objects.

The CPCP series were only available in the Paris Vendome Boutique at the time with often extremely low volume of production and limited allocations. Between 1998-2008 of the Maison perhaps released some of the most striking combinations sought after by worldwide collectors.

The tortue case shape remained as third wristwatch design of Cartier to date with a tortoise symbol of goodwill along with symbolic shapes ie. Cloche, Crash, Allongee, Cintree and endless combinations to date.

Reference 2396 ‘Tortue Monopoussoir’ stems from a once-off collaboration between Cartier and the great independents, where I think this particular reference appeals in terms of navy imprint on its circular dial with an over-sized ‘12’ as a hallmark. This particular example features a mythical tropical sub-dial which eludes its own charm. I’m yet to see this piece aging and the years to come.