That is an version of the publication Field + Papers, Cam Wolf’s weekly deep dive into the world of watches. Join right here.
Regular fingers, persistence, consideration to element, and a capability to enter a trance-like state—these are all qualities I affiliate with skilled watchmakers. On the Cartier producer in La Chaux-de-Fonds this week, I realized it additionally requires a dedication to being swole as hell. I got here to this info the laborious manner, on the finish of an enameling class. After “portray” a dial with enamel (powdered glass) and placing it in an virtually 1,500-degree Fahrenheit oven, the final step was to shine my creation. I knew this is able to be an issue when the grasp enameler main the session urged that my different classmates and I stand to make use of our full weight whereas pushing our dials into the sprucing stones. On the finish of our class, all our foreheads glistened with sweat regardless that not a single one in every of us may end sprucing the dials we got to play with. It was an excellent lesson in how troublesome it’s to grasp simply one of many crafts which have helped push Cartier to the highest of the watch world lately.
Throughout my go to to the Cartier producer, I used to be a little bit stunned by how open our tour guides have been concerning the model’s strategy to business dominance: prioritizing exterior artistry over technical wizardry inside a watch. The model’s technique works from the surface in, not the opposite manner round, the other of many watchmakers that dream up issues earlier than imagining the packaging to accommodate it. The very thought of setting technical information was dismissed: So long as the watch is dependable, Cartier is aware of it could win with design. That wager has been paying off over the previous few years, as Cartier has risen to turn into the second largest Swiss watchmaker by market share, in accordance with the annual business report from Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult. The model’s rise is emblematic of a larger shift in collector style from specced-out sophisticated watches to expressive and fairly designs.
