Cartier Tank Louis Cartier Mini - Yellow gold - c. 1990 (invoice & SAV pouch)

A great watch in a mini size.

Description

The lugs extending on either side of the dial, the Roman numeral hour markers, the blued steel sword-shaped hands, the sapphire cabochon on the crown: the Tank Louis Cartier is instantly recognizable. 

What changes here is the scale. Under reference 828001, the Tank Louis Cartier comes in its Mini format: a 16 x 24 mm case, small enough for the watch to cease being a watch and become a piece of jewelry worn directly on the wrist.

It is mounted on a navy blue alligator leather strap. The combination is less expected than black or brown, and that is precisely what makes it so successful: the cool blue highlights the warmth of the yellow gold and echoes the color of the crown and the hands. 

The buckle deserves special mention. The original has been replaced by an 18-karat yellow gold buckle ordered from Cartier, for which we will provide you with the invoice and the Cartier after-sales service pouch.

How to wear it?

The mini format is the one you choose when you want a watch that isn't visible from a distance. It slips under a shirt cuff, can be worn with a pearl bracelet or a cuff without competing with them, and remains perfectly legible despite its size thanks to the Roman numeral hour markers.

Yellow gold suits it in every season. The white dial works with almost any strap, and changing the leather throughout the year is the easiest way to never tire of a Tank.

Its quartz movement also makes it a watch you can simply wear without thinking about it, without winding or setting it.

Why did Françoise choose it?

Because the Tank is the Tank. Françoise loves them all—classic, set with stones, in yellow gold, in white gold—and never tires of seeing that a design from 1917 still works today. There are few objects about which one can say the same.

The Mini format is the favorite for one simple reason: it is the one that most boldly embraces the idea that the Tank is a piece of jewelry. At these dimensions, nothing superfluous remains, and the solid gold does all the work.

History

Louis Cartier designed the Tank in 1917. The Maison tells that he came up with its shape by looking at the plan of a tank viewed from above: the two vertical lugs were said to be the tracks, the dial the compartment between them. The watch was marketed from 1919 under the name Tank Normale.

The Tank Louis Cartier arrived five years later, in 1922. Its lugs became slimmer and more rounded, its dial longer, and it was this version that would establish itself as the archetype of the line. The design principle rested on an idea no one had thought of before: to eliminate the lugs and bring the strap directly down from the case, so that the case and the strap would become one.

A century later, the Tank has been offered in every metal and almost every size, from the Large model to the Mini format. It has also become one of the most photographed watches of the century: notably on the wrist of Jackie Kennedy, whose personal example was sold at auction in 2017.