Auctions: Sotheby’s To Offer A Massive 300+ Piece Cartier Collection Across Sales This Year

Called “The Shapes of Cartier: The Finest Vintage Grouping Ever Assembled,” it really is fascinating. Typically, I hedge away from superlatives like these, as some truly outstanding collections of Cartier have been gathered (the “White Cartier” book, for instance, of which pieces are now owned by noted collectors like Eric Ku, Justin Gruenberg, and Auro Montanari, as well as the collection of the dealer who originally assembled it) but again, the breadth of this auction is expansive, so the name of “The Finest Vintage Grouping Ever Assembled” very well could be the case. 

A London Crash, sure, but even the “smaller” items like a ton of Tanks (like this Grand Cintrée from London), Drivers, rare Octagonals, and Decagonal—I don’t think people really understand how rare these pieces are. Let’s break it down a bit.

Once you start looking closely, it becomes easier to distinguish the more experimental London pieces from those made in Paris or New York. Take, for example, the very flat Alongée with the black dial. This is considered a “London” dial, notably without the outer chemin de fer track found on so many Cartier watches. The shaped cases—like the eight- and ten-sided examples—are also distinctly London, and distinctly rare.