In 2021, Cartier decided to reintroduce the Pasha watch collection, including this Pasha de Cartier Chronograph in a 41mm-wide steel case. Cartier decided to go slow with the Pasha Chronograph in steel by only releasing a silver-dialed version to start, followed by a multi-gray-tone dial version of the Cartier Pasha Chronograph a year later in 2022. In 2023, Cartier introduced yet another version of the Pasha Chronograph in steel (with a matching bracelet): this reference WSPA0039 with a blue-green dial. The dark metallic tone is very different from the more classic silver dial, but I find it very compelling. When I first saw this watch, I knew I had seen this color tone before — but where? Beetlejuice, of course. This is viridian blue-green!
There is a particular scene in the classic 1988 Tim Burton film in which the character Otho (an interior designer, among other things) is walking around the house with the character Delia Deetz, deciding on colors to paint the walls. This leads to an exaggerated explanation of what viridian green is. In Beetlejuice, Otho sprays the color on a wall and explains, “Viridian. Blue-green. Hydrated chromic oxide. Remember, I’m schooled in chemistry.” Cartier simply refers to the dial as “blue sunray-brushed,” but now we know better (well, at least the color is close to it). In honor of the actor who played Otho — Glen Shadix (who died in 2010), let’s call this blue-green dial version of the Pasha de Cartier the Pasha Chronograph Viridian.
Otho from the 1988 film Beetlejuice, a character that introduced many of us to the color viridian blue-green.
The Pasha is cool to me because it is one of the most polarizing of the otherwise conservative watches on the market. The brand, movement, profile, and overall packaging of this watch are standard luxury, through and through. But something about this design (and other Cartier watches, for that matter) evokes a lot of feelings from both ends of the spectrum. I’ve not always been a mega-fan of the Pasha, but I really admire its mixture of formality with vintage diver and military watch characteristics. Others just find the entire concept strange. I suppose that’s what Cartier does best — create luxury products that are just polarizing enough to cause the kinds of emotions that make people want them.
Today’s Pasha Chronograph watches are 41mm wide and 12mm thick with 100 meters of water resistance. Part of the watch’s nod to historic water-resistant timepieces is the use of a screw-down cap over the actual crown (which is comparatively small), versus a more modern screw-down crown. This is really just for style and to give the watch personality. As a diver’s-style watch (it doesn’t have enough luminant to be a serious swimming or sports watch), the case also has a unidirectional rotating bezel that uses a classy font for the numerals. Personally, I really admire “gentlemen diver” watches such as the Cartier Pasha Chronograph. Note that, currently, only the Pasha Chronograph models have rotating bezels, as the three-hand models are more dressy in nature and have smooth bezels.
Some people have claimed that design features such as the bar-style lugs (which now hide quick-release spring bars so that you can swap out the bracelet with an included strap) are feminine. Maybe you see it that way, and it is true that single bar-style lugs are exceedingly rare on men’s watches. Leave it to Cartier to play with this and make it more masculine, which, in my opinion, it does quite well. Another complaint about some Pasha watches is that the dials are too sparse, but that isn’t the case with the chronograph models since the subdials take up much of the empty space on the dial and, I would argue, lead to a good composition. While the chronograph subdials makes the Pasha dial busier (that is sort of the point), they also create more of an instrument look. So, while I prefer the chronograph version of the Pasha to the three-hand over in another Cartier collection (the Santos), here, I prefer the three-hand version over the chronograph. It really comes down to case-by-case-basis aesthetics from watch model to watch model.
Inside the Cartier Pasha Chronograph is Cartier’s in-house caliber 1904-CH3 MC automatic movement. A module-based automatic chronograph, this movement operates at 4Hz with about two days of power reserve. The dial features the time, a 12 hour-chronograph, and a date complication. Kudos to Cartier for coloring the date disc to match that of the Viridian blue face. A bit more blue can be found on the chronograph pusher and crown cabochons, which are produced from synthetic blue spinel (only the really high-end Cartier models still use sapphire for these components).
As I mentioned above, Cartier includes an additional strap with the matching steel bracelet. That strap is in blue alligator and is easy to put on thanks to Cartier’s QuickSwitch system for changing the bands. In addition to not needing tools to remove the bracelet or strap, the Pasha is another Cartier watch that has modern bracelets engineered with links that can be removed without the need for tools. This is a very handy system and a welcome part of today’s Cartier wristwatch-wearing experience. Cartier will certainly release more versions of its Pasha de Cartier Chronograph, but this blue-green “viridian” dial version is an interesting flavor and seems to have a slightly more playful personality. Price for the reference WSPA0039 Cartier Pasha Chronograph watch is $10,400 USD. Learn more at the Cartier website.
