Each developed its own ranges of products that were interpretations of Cartier’s classics. The Paris, New York and London businesses owned by different branches of the family were not reunited until the late ’70s. Made by the London workshops, it dates from the fag end of the Swinging ’60s. Until recently the watch barely warranted a footnote in the history of Cartier. It is incredibly simple yet uniquely recognisable.Ĭartier 50th-anniversary Pebble-Shaped watch, £40,800
The design derives its effect from the tension between the circular case and square dial, its corners oriented so that it sits like a lozenge with corners at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. What is more, I am pretty sure that, when released next month, the 150-piece 50th-anniversary release of the watch aficionados know as the “Pebble” will make hot cakes seem positively glacial when it comes to sales.Īs the nickname suggests, it resembles the sort of stone you might skim along the surface of the water: a shape that invites you to caress it, promising the tactile satisfaction of a pebble worn to smooth, geometric perfection by aeons of erosion. The same car cannot normally be exhibited at Pebble more than once a decade.No complications, no gem-setting, not even a gold bracelet… it is a mark of how far Cartier has come as a watchmaker in recent years that it can charge £40,800 for a time-only wristwatch. Should you feel you have the right car for the event, you can offer it up to the 12-man selection committee, who get about 1,000 applications every year, from which just 220 are chosen. “It’s America’s biggest stage for cars,” says five-times Le Mans-winning racing driver and Pebble judge, Derek Bell. Nic Waller, a member of Pebble Beach’s selection committee, admits that “People often buy a car just for Pebble, but I wouldn’t say that’s the norm.” The manicured lawns on the edge of the Pacific offer arguably the finest automotive showroom in the world. Still, Rea, like Munton, buys these cars because he loves them, as opposed to buying purely for investment purposes, in order to enter and hopefully win a best-in-class award before selling them on with the enhanced pedigree. Owners are often encouraged to stand by their cars to answer questions or demonstrate attributes, but, reminisces Rea, “My knowledge was minus zero I had to fend off some of the ace anoraks in Europe”.
The singer Chris Rea is among those whose cars have entered Cartier in the past.
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