Over the last few years my interest and respect for Cartier has really grown. Sure, a lot of their timepieces are mass produced, but they have a penchant for good, lasting design. No doubt I am not a fan of all of their watches, but little escapes from their manufacture without being really good for at least some people. Good design - as I am learning more and more - is not easy. Designing something to look outstanding and really cool for 5 minutes is really not that hard. Executing a design that looks good each time you look at it, for years, isn't so easy. In this department, Cartier has succeeded for a long time. I find myself wondering what their secret is.
Interestingly enough, watches with "good" designs don't affect you right away. You might look at them a bit ambiguously at first. Then, after paying attention to them for a while, the quality of the design grows on you. I have never looked at a Cartier watch once and been like, "Winner!" It takes me a while to appreciate them. Sure enough, though, I have grown to really respect almost each timepiece by Cartier from a design perspective.
Now there are the new super high-end manufacture watches from Cartier. Haute Horology now gets Cartier worthy designs. While these super high-end pieces are not all keepers, there are enough outstanding ones. My favorite from last year was the Cartier Rotonde Astrotourbillon watch. The mechanism placed the escapement on a hand that functioned as the seconds hand. The dial has a special "trench" that gave space for the astrotourbillon complication.
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