The name Cartier needs no introduction. As one of the most influential and celebrated jewellery and watch brands of the last 100 years, it has always stood as a mark of luxury and desirability. Without taking away from its historical significance, I would say that when it comes to watches, Cartier has always been predominantly known as a ‘design’ brand rather than a pure watchmaking one, with stunningly iconic models such as the Tank, the Crash and the Santos all seen as important due to how it looks. In fact, to this day, it is the beautiful and unconventional designs that attract collectors and allow it to hold a unique position in the watch brand hierarchy that no other possesses.
As I have mentioned many times, the ’90s was an unconventional and murky time for watch brands, having just come out of the quartz crisis that decimated most of the industry. Brands were either experimenting like crazy or strictly conservative, wary of the fact they just survived the equivalent of a nuclear bombing. The industry was slowly coming back, with consumers beginning to take an interest in mechanical watches again and with this in mind, Cartier decided that it was time to improve its image as a true watchmaking brand.
The result was the Collection Privée Cartier Paris division, referred to simply as the ‘CPCP’. The CPCP intended to be the premier mechanical watchmaking division of Cartier and looking back on it today, it was one of the best decisions they ever made. The philosophy was simple, the CPCP took iconic models that were already loved by many, and reproduced them with high-grade movements, working with bona fide watch manufactures such as Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Frédéric Piguet, Girard-Perregaux and more.
The easiest way to differentiate a CPCP watch was by the dial, with all but one model (Tank Cintrée) featuring a ‘Cartier Paris’ inscription - an ode to its heritage. The dials were always crafted from solid gold and often featured a strong hand-turned guilloché pattern.
Here, we have a beautiful Cartier Tank Chinoise Ref. 2684G in lustrous 18-carat rose gold which hails from the said CPCP era. First unveiled to the world by the Maison in 1922, the Tank Chinoise design emerged at a time when ‘Far Eastern’ aesthetics greatly influenced European design sensibilities. The term "Chinoise" directly translates from French to "Chinese," and the model reinterprets the iconic Tank design from 1917 by incorporating wide horizontal bars above and below the dial which overlap atop the brancards. These bars were inspired by the lintels, horizontal beam-like structures commonly found above entrances and doorways in Chinese temples.
I must say, the Tank Chinoise is a relatively rare design from Cartier, appearing infrequently in their catalogues ever since its debut in 1922, which makes it notably elusive and highly collectable, and even more so when an example like this is shown to have come from the famous CPCP era. It is believed that these CPCP models were likely produced exclusively between 2005 and 2008, with this specific example being dated back to 2006 according to its paperwork.
As with many Cartier designs from the CPCP period, this Ref. 2684G showcases a white gold dial adorned with Cartier's signature Roman numerals and a central rosette guilloché pattern that radiates outward from the center. The case is elegantly proportioned at 28mm x 29mm x 8mm, making it quite wearable by contemporary standards. To complement this ensemble, the Ref. 2684G also comes fitted with a set of blued apple-shaped hands at its center, as well as an iconic and striking sapphire blue cabochon set on its beaded crown.
The Ref. 2684G is powered by the manually wound Cartier Cal. 437MC movement, featuring an intricately interlaced double 'C' motif throughout the bridges, visible through its open sapphire caseback. This caliber, based on an ultra-thin Piaget ébauche Cal. 430P also offers a power reserve of 40 hours on a full wind.
The CPCP collection ran for 10 years between 1998 and 2008 and I can confidently say it is one of the most significant periods in Cartier’s history. It is beautiful to see that Cartier was doing ‘reissues’ before it was even a thing and doing it the right way - respecting the past while producing something modern. Not only this but the CPCP models were produced in truly limited numbers, with many having a designated run of 50 to 100 pieces. For those in the Collection Privé that weren’t strictly ‘limited’, it is estimated that only 250-300 pieces were made for each reference making any CPCP watch out there truly special.
Collectors are finally taking notice of this and Cartier in general as a brand worth collecting. With more knowledge readily available now, the demand for Cartier has been huge and I only see it getting larger, especially for important references such as those from the CPCP line.
