Animal motifs have been an integral part of Cartier’s design language since the introduction of a panther on one of its watches in 1914. For Watches & Wonders 2024, the Maison is leaning into this wild aesthetic with a range of Cartier Animal Jewelry Watches that showcase an alluring mix of jewelry-making, watchmaking, and gem-setting. A menagerie of beasts is on show here, including crocodiles, zebras, and tigers.
The first herd of Cartier Animal Jewelry watches is centered on a blend of zebra and crocodile, featuring a voluptuous oval-shaped case that houses a lozenge-shaped dial. A side view of the case demonstrates the coiled design of the case, which according to Cartier looks like the creature is “poised to strike.” Depending on the model — rose gold, white gold, or yellow gold — Cartier mixes brilliant-cut diamonds and black lacquer with green tsavorite garnets, rubies, or black spinels. The white gold and rose gold variants include diamond-paved dials whereas the yellow gold model is paired with a black lacquer dial. All dials include only a pair of hour and minute hands, powered by a quartz movement. The three models are accompanied by both calfskin straps and alligator leather ones, fitted with ardillon buckles crafted in the same precious metal as the case and embellished with diamonds and matching colored stones.
Cartier’s next sub-collection of Animal Jewelry Watches is the Crocodile Jewelry Watch, presenting a sculpture of the reptile coiled around the white round case. While Cartier has made a few variations of the watch, the hero of the range is a white gold model set with mother-of-pearl, enamel, sapphires, brilliant-cut diamonds, and a cabochon-cut emerald for the eye. Inside the case is a quartz movement that drives the hour and minute hands on the dial. The watch is equipped with a navy-blue alligator leather strap but an additional royal blue calfskin strap accompanies the piece.
Rounding out the Animal Jewelry Watches line is a duo of high jewelry timepieces with wildlife-themed bracelets featuring an animal head attached to the case via clamped jaws around the upper lug. The first is a yellow gold tiger watch with black lacquer, black spinels, spessartite garnets, yellow sapphires, orange sapphires, brilliant-cut diamonds, and pear-cut emeralds for the eyes. This version includes a golden sunray-brushed dial with a single gemstone at 12 o’clock. The second is a white gold crocodile watch set with brilliant-cut diamonds and emeralds, furnished with a silvered sunray-brushed dial with one brilliant-cut emerald hour marker. Like all the other new Cartier Animal Jewelry Watches, this pair of two-handed watches runs on quartz movements.
Cartier has not made the retail prices of these high-jewelry watches public at the time of publishing, but I imagine that they will — like previous Cartier high-jewelry watches — carry six-figure price tags. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
