This month, Cartier celebrates the culture of design by devoting an international campaign to its most beloved designs.

In this new campaign, Cartier invites longtime enthusiasts and passionate admirers to (re)discover the diversity of its iconic collections – Santos, Tank, Trinity, Love, Juste Un Clou, Panthère, and Ballon Bleu through a series of images. Each of these collections reflect Cartier’s stringent standards and design vision that have led the Maison to the constant quest for the perfect form based on the purity of the line, accuracy of the shape, precision of proportions, and the precious details.

This campaign also brings these iconic collections together for the first time, paying tribute to its vision and intention. By creating objects that remain a timeless desirable quality, it raises design to the lofty ranks of culture.

“Cartier is a pioneering house, in constant creative exploration,” said Arnaud Carrez, Cartier’s Marketing and Communication Director in a statement. “This campaign demonstrates the Maison’s ability to create cult designs that stand the test of time, objects that are at once immediately recognisable and bear witness to the past. The simplicity and strength of these images allow us to celebrate a unique collection of cult design creations that have earned a place in the history of jewellery and watchmaking, and in the hearts of our customers.”

Now let’s revisit each collection and rediscover just what makes each piece a Cartier essential:

Ballon Bleu de Cartier

Created in 2007 from a new vision of roundness, Cartier designers looked to give more volume to the simple circle. Doubly convex, its shape strikes the perfect balance between line and volume. To avoid any ruptured lines, the domed sapphire crystal winding crown is perfectly integrated into the case, with the crown cap under a metal hoop at three o’clock protecting the blue bubble.

Juste Un Clou

Functionality and glamour meet as Cartier transforms the basic shape of a simple nail into an elegant piece of jewellery. Clean, radical, and sporting uncompromising lines, the precision of this bracelet’s proportions was created for Cartier in New York by Aldo Cipullo in the ‘70s. It allows the oval to hug the delicate forms of the wrist.

Tank

It was in 1917 when Louis Cartier found inspiration from the purity of the ine to create a new watch shape. What distinguishes the Tank watch are the two parallel brancards, where according to tradition, this watch was inspired by the design of a combat vehicle viewed from above. It followed clear graphic principles: the brancards were the tracks, and the case was the turret. This combination birthed a new and fundamental principle: the design of the case attachments was now in alignment with the strap and in tandem with the rhythm of the pattern.

Trinity

The Trinity ring is how the beauty of a shape with a single ring is revealed by a Cartier jeweller. originally designed by Louis Cartier in 1924, it features clean lines and perfect proportions, being made up of three intertwined, mobile bands in three different colours of gold.

Santos de Cartier

Created in 1904, the design of the Santos watch was based on the concept of form, the taste for minimalism, the precision of proportions, and an eye for detail. It marked the first square watch by Cartier, which was designed for the wrist at a time when the pocket watch was round. The screws, traditionally hidden in watchmaking, were made visible and became an aesthetic code of the collection.

Panthère de Cartier

The Panthère watch was first created in 1983 that featured a square case with rounded angles, a seamless curve of the horns and visible rivets. With the watch, Cartier aspired for clean lines, without losing sight of the softness that makes this timepiece a quintessential jewellery watch. It’s ultra-flexible, and mirrors the movements of the Maison’s emblematic animal. The Panthère de Cartier was then redesigned in 2017, and continues to reflect liberated, joyful, and triumphant femininity.

Love

Following the expressions of being ‘locked in love’ and having the one you love holding the key to your heart, the Cartier Love collection was created in New York by Aldo Cipullo in 1969, where an oval bracelet composed of two rigid and flat circular arcs that must be screwed together using a special screwdriver.

Photos: Cartier