Important Notice

A rare 18K gold asymmetric dial, case serial number A 108478, has a mechanical winding calibre 160 with 17 jewels. The off-white dial has stylised Roman numerals as the hour indices and blue steel hands and crown composed of blue sapphire cabochon. This watch is 182nd from a limited series of 400 watches of the 'Crash' model and has the original Cartier deployant buckle clasp. Dial, case and movement signed.

Provenance: Christie's, Hong Kong, 30 October 2001, lot 1257


Cartier's 'Crash' watch was created in London in 1967 under Jean-Jacques Cartier, and is notable for its unusual shape. In her new book, Francesca Cartier Brickell writes that the watch was conceptualised as a reflection of the changing times. "The reality was that the 1960s were a time of nonconformism in London... Jean-Jacques, who worked closely with the designer Rupert Emmerson on watches and cases, discussed with him how they might try adjusting the popular Maxi Oval design to look as though it had been in a crash "by pinching the ends at a point and putting a kink in the middle."" (The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire, New York: Ballantine Books, 2019, p. 519)

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