Cartier
JEWLLER OF KINGS AND KING OF JEWELLERS
THE HISTORY OF CARTIER
Maison CARTIER has a long, varied and complex history going back to 1847. For luxury eyewear fans, the CARTIER story begins in 1983 with the Lunettes CARTIER collection. Here, though, we would like to give a longer account of CARTIER’s impressive history for all lovers of luxury who would like an insight into the facts behind this great name.
THE CARTIER FAMILY
In 1847, goldsmith Louis-Francois Cartier founded Maison CARTIER in the heart of Paris, just a few steps from the fashionable Palais-Royal neighbourhood. Thanks to his exceptionally elaborate gem-set jewels, he quickly gained a reputation for his fine and delicate craft skills. His circle of clients soon included many renowned figures, and by 1853 he was named as a supplier to the imperial French court.
Empress Eugénie, wife of Emperor Napoleon III, was one of Cartier’s leading patrons, but he also received many commissions from Princess Mathilde, the Emperor’s cousin, as well as the couturier Charles Frederick Worth, regarded as the founder of haute couture.
In 1874, Alfred Cartier, Louis-Francois’s only son, took over his father’s business, now located on the Boulevard des Italiens, the ‘Oxford Street’ of its day. Over the next years, Alfred’s wife gave birth to their daughter Suzanne and their three sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques. The names of their three sons later came to stand for the three great CARTIER houses.
> Louis for the original Maison CARTIER in Paris
> Pierre for CARTIER New York on 5th Avenue
> Jacques for CARTIER in London
IN 1887, AT THE WISH OF PRINCESSE D’ESSLING, A LADY-IN-WAITING AT THE FRENCH COURT, LOUIS CARTIER PRODUCED HIS VERY FIRST OPTICAL INSTRUMENT. THIS MAGNIFICENT TORTOISE SHELL LORGNETTE SET WITH DIAMONDS MADE LOUIS CARTIER INTO A VERITABLE ‘ARTISTIC OPTICIAN’.
In 1898, Alfred’s oldest son Louis joined the family business, now known as ‘Alfred Cartier et Fils’. This was the Belle Époque era, a time when Paris was renowned as Europe’s capital of fashion and culture.
In 1899, Louis Cartier moved the main branch to Rue de la Paix 13, still home to Maison CARTIER today. From 1898 – 1914, Louis Cartier regularly visited St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia, where he quickly gained a reputation as the very best jeweller. He even become more renowned than Carl Peter Fabergé, whom he much admired. Louis Cartier’s customers included many members of the imperial House of Romanov, the family of the Tsar, and especially Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who commissioned many diadems.
In 1902, Cartier founded the London branch in New Burlington Street. Edward VII, possibly the greatest admirer of Maison CARTIER at this time, was crowned in the same year, and reputedly commissioned CARTIER to make no less than 27 diadems for his coronation. In 1906, Louis’s brother Jacques took over the London branch. Three years later he moved to New Bond Street where CARTIER London still is today.
In 1909, CARTIER also opened a New York branch at 12 5th Avenue. Since the premises soon proved too small, a solution was found in a special kind of barter arrangement. Pierre Cartier offered banker Morton F. Plant an incredibly beautiful double-strand natural pearl necklace in exchange for the banker’s six-storey building at 5th Avenue/52nd Street. Plant agreed, and in 1917 the company moved to 654 5th Avenue, where CARTIER New York still is today.
NOT JUST LUXURY JEWELLERY
A growing CARTIER range - establishing a watch division
The first watches from the House of CARTIER were pocket-watches that CARTIER either bought on the antiques market or ordered from the best watchmakers of those days. CARTIER then decorated the watches with gold, diamonds or other gems.
Around 1880, CARTIER began to consider the possibilities of wristwatches. This ‘new watch’ only gained acceptance very slowly, but CARTIER, just like watchmakers Patek Philippe and Girard-Perreguax, the inventors of the wristwatch, firmly believed in its future.
A short chronology of CARTIER watches:
In 1904, Louis Cartier created the first wristwatch for his famous friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian aviator widely acknowledged as a one of the pioneers of aviation. Cartier developed the wristwatch in response to Santos-Dumont’s comments on the difficulty of checking a pocket-watch while piloting a plane.
In 1906, CARTIER introduced the first crown wound wristwatch, a feature still found on CARTIER watches even today.
1909 saw CARTIER patenting a folding buckle (boucle déployante) for wristwatches; the same year the ‘double C’ signature, the new CARTIER logo, was launched.
In 1911, Louis Cartier asked his friend Santos-Dumont to allow him to copy his wristwatch for other creations. One year later, CARTIER launched the Baignoire design, and the following year the Tortue.
In 1913, CARTIER produced the first Pendule Mystérieuse (‘Mystery Clock’), with the hands of the clock apparently floating in thin air.
In 1917, in the middle of the First World War, CARTIER designed its Tank wristwatch, though this was only unveiled for the public in 1919.
