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Hands on with Calibre de Cartier Diver
An unexpected watch for a house like Cartier, the Calibre de Cartier Diver is an addition to the successful Calibre de Cartier collection, a collection that houses a first for the brand: its first completely in-house automatic movement (more a bit below).
It developed into one of the most prominent talking pieces at SIHH...
Cartier designed the Diver
as an unmistakeably masculine watch for both everyday wear and extreme
conditions. It meets the challenge of combining Cartier's style with the
technical requirements of ISO 6425, a norm, which controls the “Diver’s
Watch” label laid down into eight criteria of reliability assessed
through a series of extremely rigorous tests.
The Diver complies to the norm's criteria, externally visible through technical elements such as a unidirectional bezel, water-resistancy up to 300 metres, hands and dive-time indicator (unidirectional) in superluminova and a crown protector. We can only imagine the challenge of transforming the pertinent technical criteria into a piece that is a true Cartier. The brand succeeded by intelligently integrating some of its core design features, such as Roman numerals and a flanged bezel.
We
were told that Cartier not only considered the optics and the movement
inside, but also texture and haptics, e.g. how the bezel turns and
clicks, how the bracelet feels and sounds. All this is technically not
necessary for a tool watch, but those are elements that differentiate a
good watch from a great watch. Quite impressive!
Cartier
offers this watch in quite some varieties, from simple steel over
two-tone finally to pink gold watches. All variations may come with a
really well done rubber strap (the vainly smell is finally back!) or with a metal bracelet.
In our view the most convincing of the whole collection is the basic steel Diver. Steel for a tool watch and nothing else. Unpretentious, solid and wearable at most occassions. Note how the guillochage on the outer hour chapter ring adds to the overall legibility, and likewise the date opening even if the current date is covered by a hand:
Pink gold, with a seemingly lower contrast:
Dial and bezel really deserve a closer look: did you notice the tooth work inside the bezel (coated with ADLC)?
It is fluted, btw, to best follow the family spirit of the Calibre collection. Another Cartier cachet: The 'Cartier' script hidden in the 'X':
One of the most striking design decisions by Cartier is how slim this watch is. We are used to tool watches trying to express their toughness via their massive size. The Diver follows and entirely different path is as surpassingly thin and light. On the first encounter almost disturbingly light (in steel ;-)). Just look at the slender profile, its just 11 mm thick (diameter 42 mm):
We
were told that the design of the horns was quite a challenge in order
to (i) allow the case to be thin but (ii) offer maximum possible wearing
comfort.
The case back is a quite simple affair:
The case back is a quite simple affair:
Consistently simple is the buckle, both in steel as well as in gold (shown here):
Beneath the solid back plate works Cartier's in-house movement 1904 MC (the 1904 is a reference to the pioneering spirit of Louis Cartier who, in 1904, created one of the very first modern wristwatches for his friend, the pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont).
First
presented in 2010, this 11 1?2 ligne calibre has been designed to
maintain perfect chronometric stability thanks to a double barrel that
guarantees excellent constancy of the mainspring torque over a long
period. Its rotor is mounted on a central ceramic ball-bearing that
gives it excellent shock-resistance and ensures its durability.
Overall, Cartier has succeeded in creating an authentic diver’s watch, without sacrificing everyday comfort on the wrist or being in clinch with the brand's core design cues. The watch falls into the growing range of watches for the lighter, joyful events in life.
Overall, Cartier has succeeded in creating an authentic diver’s watch, without sacrificing everyday comfort on the wrist or being in clinch with the brand's core design cues. The watch falls into the growing range of watches for the lighter, joyful events in life.
A
sunset scene at Portofino: moments of pleasure, light at heart,
surrounded by friendship, enjoying a fine timepiece but not having to
think about it. That's were we see this watch - either in gold with
rubber...
… two-tone on a bracelet ...
… on rubber…
Pro:
• One of the few 'luxury tool watches' that convince in refinement, aesthetics and fitness for purpose • True Cartier style, very versatile and executed with lots of attention to details
• Its so light and thin... - for what it is!
• Reliable and powerful manufacture movement
• Price
Con:
• Date window not to everyone's liking (even when it is done nicely)• Metal bracelet belongs to best in the industry, but there are still better ones ...
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