This year, I suspect the Calibre collection will see new models (such as a Chronograph) and this astrotourbillon version is one of them.

The Cartier Calibre was released last year as their newest men’s watch collection. The dial has a special “trench” that gave space for the astrotourbillon complication.įor 2011 Cartier will use the same Astrotourbillon movement and put it in a Calibre case. The mechanism placed the escapement on a hand that functioned as the seconds hand. My favorite from last year was the Cartier Rotonde Astrotourbillon watch. While these super high-end pieces are not all keepers, there are enough outstanding ones. Haute Horology now gets Cartier worthy designs. Now there are the new super high-end manufacture watches from Cartier. Sure enough, though, I have grown to really respect almost each timepiece by Cartier from a design perspective. I have never looked at a Cartier watch once and been like, “Winner!” It takes me a while to appreciate them. Then, after paying attention to them for a while, the quality of the design grows on you. You might look at them a bit ambiguously at first. Interestingly enough, watches with “good” designs don’t affect you right away. I find myself wondering what their secret is. In this department, Cartier has succeeded for a long time. Executing a design that looks good each time you look at it, for years, isn’t so easy. Designing something to look outstanding and really cool for 5 minutes is really not that hard. Good design – as I am learning more and more – is not easy. No doubt I am not a fan of all of their watches, but little escapes from their manufacture without being really good for at least some people. Sure, a lot of their timepieces are mass produced, but they have a penchant for good, lasting design. Over the last few years my interest and respect for Cartier has really grown.

Cartier calibre astrotourbillon