small-luxury-world[Patek]
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Hands on with Rotonde de Cartier Day and Night as well as Tourbillon Chronograph
Feb 22, 2014,09:24 AM
Under the header 'Creative Elegance' Cartier
pays homage to historic signature features of its history and places
elegance at the heart of its approach to watchmaking. Three iconic
timepieces have been selected for this exercise in style: the Rotonde de Cartier Day and Night, a historic complication with geometric style, the Tank Louis Cartier Sapphire Skeleton and finally the Tank MC Two-tone Skeleton, both of which which celebrate the watchmaking art of skeletonisation.
Let's start with a most poetic yet at the same time practical interpretation of an astronomic watch, the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Day and Night :
Poetic
because it offers a charming realisation of the day/night indication (a
naturalistic sun for the time of work and business (day) contrasted
with a more stylised moon for the times of love, joy and festivities
(night). Practical because Cartier devised an intuitive and easily
readable display which shows day/night at the top and the (retrograde!)
moon phase at the bottom of the dial.
It comes in red gold as well as palladium.
Thus,
the watch has a plot personality in the literal sense of the word: The
most practical information uses the entire dial perimeter (time), the
most emotional information (day/night) prominently the upper half
whereas the most philosophical indication (moon phase) is relegated to
the lower periphery. Why philosophical? Because we think the moon phase
is nothing else than a gentle reminder that we, our earth and the
universe are just a tiny, unimportant part of a magnificent,
unapproachable whole…
As
if this was not enough Cartier did an impressive job in traversing this
already compelling concept into a really outstanding timepiece which
instantly reminds us why Cartier watches are so special:The dial of the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Day and Night not
only has finely arranged dimensions, it also acts as a didactic
reference to illustrate how tiny 3-dimensional elements are used most
effectively:
The
day night disk is executed with subtle relief, and the indications of
the moon phase seem to pop out of the dial's chapter ring. Really an
outstanding dial work!
The engine is a manufacture mechanical with automatic winding, calibre 9912 MC, which offers 48h or autonomy.
The magic of this watch is that is wears much smaller than its 43.5 mm case would suggest.Pro:
• Charming interpretation of a small complication
• Intelligent arrangement of indications
Con:
• 43.5 mm might be too large for small wrists
Pro:
• Quite a lot of complications put into a single timepiece
• Usefully long power reserve
• Outstanding dial work
Con:
• Rather conventional combination of complications
• Movement exceptional but with (in its range) common base
• 45 mm is limiting the target group
This message has been edited by Ornatus-Mundi on 2014-02-25 00:27:38