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A record collection of vintage Cartier timepieces, spanning nearly a century of the maison\u2019s most coveted designs, is being auctioned at Sotheby\u2019s, with sales kicking off in Hong Kong later this month.<\/p>\n
Entitled \u201cThe Shapes of Cartier: The Finest Vintage Grouping Ever Assembled,\u201d the offerings are expected to fetch in excess of $15 million across the auction house\u2019s sales in Hong Kong, Geneva and New York through December. It contains over 300 watches and represents a quarter-century of collecting by a single connoisseur who sought out the finest examples from each of Cartier\u2019s historic ateliers in Paris, London and New York.<\/p>\n
The crown jewel of the offering in Hong Kong is a rare yellow-gold Cartier London Crash from 1987, believed to be one of only three produced that year and estimated at $400 000 to $800 000. The Crash, with its deliberately distorted case, is one of horology\u2019s most infamous designs, originally conceived in 1967 at Cartier\u2019s Bond Street workshops. Its melted, asymmetric silhouette was no accident and was the brainchild of Jean-Jacques Cartier and his chief designer Rupert Emmerson. Fewer than a dozen originals are thought to have been made between 1967 and 1970.<\/p>\n
Beyond the Crash, the collection spans every era-defining Cartier design \u2014 from Santos, the brand\u2019s first-ever wristwatch, to the Tank, Baignoire, Cintr\u00e9e and Octagonal.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis collection is remarkable not only for its breadth, but for its depth \u2014 particularly in its unprecedented assembly of Cartier London pieces, many of which are among the most important examples ever to appear on the market,\u201d Sam Hines, Global Chairman of Sotheby\u2019s Watches, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Cartier, the crown jewel of Johann Rupert\u2019s Cie Financiere Richemont SA, is experiencing a cultural renaissance. In its most recent fiscal year, Richemont reported record revenues, topping 20 billion Swiss francs ($25 billion), with its Jewellery Maisons division \u2014 driven by Cartier \u2014 the primary engine of growth. Cartier alone is estimated by Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy to account for 53% of Richemont\u2019s total sales.<\/p>\n
That financial firepower is being turbocharged by a generational shift in desirability. Once the domain of established collectors, Cartier has become the defining luxury signifier for Millennials and Gen Z. Its watches appear on the wrists of Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa, while Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Dwyane Wade have cemented its cool credentials among male audiences too.<\/p>\n
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Vintage Cartier, in particular, has become the ultimate collector\u2019s obsession. Unlike the heavily speculated sports watch market, Cartier\u2019s historical pieces reward connoisseurship and a knowledge of obscure references, hallmarks and workshop provenance.<\/p>\n
The Cartier London output, produced during the maison\u2019s most experimental phase between 1967 and 1974 under Jean-Jacques Cartier, is regarded as among the most creatively daring work in 20th-century watchmaking: pieces like the Decagonal, the Octagonal and the Asym\u00e9trique were produced in tiny numbers and have rarely surfaced at auction.<\/p>\n
After the first offering in Hong Kong on April 24, Sotheby\u2019s Important Watches sales will follow in Geneva on May 10 and New York on June 15.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#Largest #vintage #Cartier #watch #collection #sold #Sothebys<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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