The Tank I upgraded to in my head
By Priya Nair, Singapore ·
Here's the awkward truth about the Tank Louis Cartier: from three feet away, most people can't tell it from the Tank Must I bought years ago. You will know. That's the point, and it's also the problem.
The Tank dates to 1917, and Louis Cartier's own version followed in the early twenties, with the rounded corners and the slim brancards that make this the most elegant of all the Tanks. The large is 33.7 mm tall and 6.6 mm thick in gold, silver dial, blue cabochon crown, closed back, 20 mm leather strap. The movement is the hand-wound 1917 MC with 38 hours, so you're winding it every morning. I'd enjoy that for about a month.
On the wrist, gold changes the whole character. The Must looks clean and graphic; the Louis looks warm, like it's been in your family since before you were born. With a cream silk blouse and gold earrings it is, to my eye, the most flattering watch Cartier makes.
The sting: 13,700 to 14,500 dollars is about four times the price of a steel Must, and only 30 m of water resistance on a leather strap means it dislikes hand-washing as much as I dislike a 7 am call. Resale on gold Tanks is steady rather than exciting.
Buy it as the watch you'll keep for thirty years, not as a trade. If you're going to flip it in five, buy the Must and spend the difference on dinner.