rands best equipped to weather luxury’s many moods are those which, to borrow a maxim attributed to Socrates, know themselves. Because a brand that knows itself intimately can express itself in greater depth, in the smallest of details, within a carefully mapped terrain. Not extend its foundations, at the risk of wandering off-course, but explore them further.

Over the past decade, Cartier has excelled in this strategic exercise of crafting a distinct identity to ensure “fluidity” between its jewellery and watches, which debuted in 1847 and 1853 respectively, and more importantly occupy an immediately recognisable territory, starting with form watches, as Arnaud Carrez explains.

Arnaud Carrez, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Cartier International

Europa Star: This year’s creations are centred around “the art of metamorphosis”. How exactly is this art expressed?

Arnaud Carrez: This theme, which echoes a form of “magic”, has always been inherent to the Maison. After all, our métier largely rests upon our capacity to transform gems and materials into desirable objects.

We also express a determination to imagine new forms, to revisit designs which we reinvent in the most apposite way. These objects of desire become vectors for emotions. The Maison’s strength is this capacity to always surprise. The men and women at Cartier are alchemists!

In practical terms, this vision led us to profoundly clarify the Maison’s identity over several years, during which we redefined the product portfolio. This has resulted in an amazing dynamic. One of the key factors of Cartier’s contemporary success is to have defined a territory that is uniquely ours. We are the watchmaker of shapes, of elegance, with a distinct style, which creates desirability. We can observe this at auction, too, with the Crash selling for over a million dollars. The popularity of vintage watches is proof of the Maison’s continued relevance and appeal. Cartier watches continue to gain in value, which adds to our desirability.

After the Tonneau, the Tank Normale and the Tortue, Cartier revisits the Tank à Guichets, which debuted in 1928, for its Cartier Privé collection. Its elegantly pure design is served by the specially created manual-winding Calibre 9755 MC to show jumping hours and dragging minutes.

What are the main elements in the creative process for Cartier watchmaking and how do you select the legacy models you reinterpret, such as this year’s Tank à Guichets?

Cartier Privé launched in 2016 as a collection that revisits the Maison’s historically significant shapes and designs. This year sees the creation of the ninth work in the series, following on from the Tank Chinoise, the Crash or the Tank Cintrée. Introduced in 1928, the Tank à Guichets is the quintessence of Cartier style, with its two essential functions. It is a perfect illustration of the Maison’s singularity, formed from a block of platinum or gold, with no brancards but two apertures. It is a minimalist gesture, a design of great purity. Everything about it says Tank!

Taking the example of the Tank à Guichets, for which you produced a new manual-winding movement, Calibre 9755, how did you combine artistic creation with technical development?

The Tank à Guichets posed a complex task for the movement teams. Fortunately for us, we have built an extremely efficient and agile manufacturing tool across six separate sites, which has evolved as watchmaking has developed. At Cartier, the design always comes first. The movement must then serve this design. Considerable progress has been made with respect to movement quality, reliability and durability. Return rates are extremely low and we have seen a continual reduction in returns these past years.

Cartier opened its Maison des Métiers d’Art ten years ago and for more than 20 years has presented an award to watchmaking’s future talents. A way of ensuring the Maison will always have access to rare skills?

Yes, because this culture of legacy and the transmission of skills is fundamental, every single day. The Maison des Métiers d’Art reflects our idea of what knowledge continuity should be. The 70-some people who are employed there represent a wealth of specialisations and talent. It is also wide open to the ecosystem of artisanship and métiers d’art beyond its walls. The aim is to preserve but also develop expertise. The Maison des Métiers d’Art nurtures a form of fluidity between jewellery and watches that is fundamental to us. Cartier was established in 1847 as a jeweller but watchmaking appeared just six years later, in 1853. The Institut d’Horlogerie Cartier was founded in Couvet, in Val-de-Travers, in 1993. Each year it presents an award to new talents and 2025 was outstanding [see Europa Star 2/25].

In keeping with its metamorphosis theme, Cartier imagines an abstract coat for its Panthère that is somewhere between tiger and zebra, in black and golden-brown lacquer, pavé-set diamonds, and orange and yellow spessartites.

One of Cartier’s strengths, as a universal brand, is to cover an entire spectrum with recognisable designs. Does your communication strategy focus more on certain exceptional models or on the more accessible ones?

Cartier has always had a rich and vast offering, from collections in accessible segments all the way up to bespoke and exceptional pieces, where price has no limit. This versatility is an extremely important point. In all our markets we have aspirational collections, such as the Panthère and the Santos, as well as transgenerational collections which address customers at every stage in life. Age isn’t a factor for Cartier. It would be antinomic for us to have “collections for young generations”.

Which of Cartier’s watch collections have seen the most important developments in recent years?

We began this process of clarification and refocusing, as well as enrichment, in 2017 with the relaunching of the Panthère watch, followed by the re-release of the Santos Dumont, the Baignoire and the Tank, which are all iconic. At the same time, we have continued to create and innovate, with the Coussin de Cartier watch and the Tressage. We have a backbone of iconic collections and let our creativity run riot around them. We have done the same with jewellery, with the Love, Trinity, Juste un Clou and Clash de Cartier collections.

In an alchemy that is uniquely Cartier, gold, diamonds and gemstones metamorphose into the Tressage, continuing a trail blazed by the Maillon, Coussin and Reflection watches with its sculptural forms and contrasting textures.

One of the major revolutions this past decade has been the popularity of vintage watches. How do you address this merging of the primary and secondary markets?

We were among the first Maisons to buy back historic pieces and curate a collection which charts the evolution of Cartier style. This is part of an ongoing strategy to enrich our heritage. Our creations are shown at leading institutions, such as this year’s exhibition at the V&A in London which features more than 350 objects, the majority of which are from our own collections.

Through more than 350 objects, the “Cartier” exhibition at the V&A in London charts the evolution of Cartier’s legacy of art, design and craftsmanship since the turn of the twentieth century.