Cartier Tank Francaise
The Tank collection was launched in 1917 and has many variants such as the Tank Must, Tank Americain and the Tank Francaise. Louise de Cartier was inspired by the Renault tanks of World War II for the design. This is how the name of the Tank collection came about. If you look at the Cartier Tank from above, you can see Louise's inspiration. The square and rectangular design was also important for the watchmaker.
In 1996, the Maison introduced its newest member of the Tank family, the Cartier Tank Francaise. A square case, angular and for the first time with an inserted metal bracelet that was connected to the case. The idea was that the case and the bracelet should form a single unit. Cartier has succeeded in this implementation thanks to the curved bars on the case. Angular thanks to the arrangement of the elements on the band, sporty thanks to the satin surfaces and yet elegant thanks to the high-quality materials and case sizes, the Tank Francaise beautify our wrists. What is also indispensable for this member of the Cartier Maison are the blued sword-shaped hands made of stainless steel, the Roman numerals on the sunburst dial (usually a silver-colored dial) and the blue sapphire cabochon on the polygonal winding crown. The small and medium-sized models are available in steel, full gold/full rose gold or in bicolor. If you still want that certain sparkle, you can get it with diamonds on the left and right of the bezel. Both sizes have a quartz movement and no date display.
Medium steel model with diamonds and quartz movement, silver dial, reference W4TA0009.
Steel with 750 yellow gold in the bracelet and gold polygonal winding crown, quartz movement, medium model, grained and silver-plated dial, reference W2TA0003.
In 2023, Cartier introduced the new edition of the Cartier Tank Francaise. At first glance, you don't immediately notice the small changes that the House of Cartier has made. Only in a direct comparison can you see that the blue sapphire cabochon and the polygonal winding crown are “dented”. They now merge more with the watch case. The shape of the case and the band elements has become more rounded. A large model with a mechanical movement and date display at 3 o'clock was also released. There are three steel sizes (the two small quartz movements and the larger mechanical) and 2 full yellow gold models each with and without diamonds on the left and right of the case.
Small steel model with quartz movement. Dial in silver with sunburst reference WSTA0065. 750 yellow gold medium model, with quartz movement, sunray gold-colored dial, with reference WGTA0113. Large steel model with mechanical movement, silver dial and date display with reference WSTA0067.
We are excited to see what innovations Cartier continues to bring us.
