Cartier never fail to deliver the goods when it comes to their SIHH collection – historically offering a large range of new goodies with everything from consumer-friendly steel all the way up to fabulous, one-of-a-kind jewelled masterpieces. And while we’ll have to wait a few more days to see what’s in store for 2017, this early release already has us intrigued. This limited edition of 30 uses the Ronde Louis Cartier XL as a starting point – a very traditional white gold canvas, framed prettily with a bezel of baguette-cut diamonds. But it’s the dial where the magic happens. Cartier has a strong interest in artistic crafts – or Métiers d’Arts if you prefer – and has invested in a sizeable facility dedicated to fostering these niche skills. This year they’re showing off a brand-new technique called flamed gold, inspired by the traditional manual heating of hands (and screws) to a rich blue, a technique originally developed to harden these key components. Cartier’s artists have taken this originally utilitarian skill to a whole new place, giving life to a multi-coloured panther by applying heat to the solid gold dial. Greater temperature results in a deeper blue, so the first step…
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