For any designer, regardless of product type, the holy grail is to create an object that so perfectly balances form and function and so elegantly expresses an aesthetic that it will not only last for many generations but will forever look as modern as it did when it left the drawing board. Among those rare products are Le Corbusier’s Chaise LC4, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair and Cartier’s Tank wristwatch. Louis Cartier’s practical, no-frills design has not only become one of the most successful and enduring watches of all time, it has accepted tweaks, updates and experiments without ever losing its integrity. And it is loved equally by men and women – for the not-so-simple reason that it’s perfectly suited to both. The beginning It’s hard to think of a less likely time than 1917 – three years into the havoc of World War I – for launching an object that would become a symbol of 20th-century luxe et chic. Before the war, Cartier’s fame had grown, thanks to its boldly modern jewellery designs and the marketing instincts of Louis-Joseph Cartier. In 1904, he designed a wrist-worn watch for his friend, Brazilian aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont, to enable him to…
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