Cartier
All brandsJewellery worn on the face
Collection enquiries
Frames from Cartier are not currently listed in our online catalogue. Contact us or visit one of our stores for information about the collection.
About the brand
A Paris house founded in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier. It has made eyewear only since the 1980s - the first collection appeared in 1983, with the Vendôme and Must models, in gold, platinum and buffalo horn. The Santos carries screws taken from the bezel of the watch of the same name, made in 1904 for the aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, a friend of Louis Cartier.
- Origin
- France
- Material
- Gold · platinum · buffalo horn · acetate
- Runs
- Permanent collections, no numbered editions
The screw that came from a watch
The Santos de Cartier was, in 1904, the first wristwatch made to be worn while flying. The screws on its bezel were structure, not ornament - they held the glass against air pressure.
Nearly eighty years later the same screw moved to the temple of a frame. There it holds nothing, but it remains the one detail by which a Cartier is recognised without reading a name.
The year was printed on the bridge
On the first Cartier frames from 1983, the bridge carried an engraving of the year the model was introduced. For the Vendôme models that was 1983. Today that engraving is how originals from the period are recognised.
