Brand:
Cartier
Model:
Tortue
Reference:
2646
Original Box:
Included
Service Papers:
Included
Warranty:
24 months
Overall Condition:
Very Good
Wear level Case:
Barely visible
Wear level Caseback:
Barely visible
Wear level Dial:
None
Wear level Crystal:
None
Wear level Bezel:
Barely visible
Wear level Bracelet Clasp:
Barely visible
Movement Type:
Automatic
Caliber:
9421 MC
Case Material:
Platinum
Case Diameter:
42.5 x 34 mm
Bezel Material:
Platinum
Crystal:
Sapphire crystal
Dial Color:
Silver
Dial Numerals:
Roman Numerals
Bracelet Material:
Leather
Bracelet Color:
Blue
Clasp Type:
Fold clasp
Clasp Material:
Platinum
Functions:
Perpetual calendar, Date, Weekday, Tempered blue hands
The Tortue was first made by Cartier in 1912, the house’s third shaped case after the Santos Dumont of 1904 and the Tonneau of 1906, and it came about five years before the Tank. Its case curves like the shell of a tortoise, with short lugs and a wide centre, and the dial follows Cartier’s own rules, white with thick Roman numerals, blued hands and a crown set with a cabochon. In 1998 Cartier began the Collection Privée Cartier Paris, which brought back archive designs in small numbers and with complications that the house had not made for decades, and the Tortue was one of its main characters.
The 2646 is the platinum Tortue with a perpetual calendar, and it is a watch to be read slowly. The silvered dial is finely guilloché, and the signature on it says Cartier Paris, with the day and the months in French on separate counters, a leap year indicator on the month counter and the date shared between two counters. Everything is laid out on a white surface that keeps the dial calm in spite of four hands moving across it, so that a complicated watch remains a quiet one. Behind it runs the automatic calibre 9421 MC, and the platinum folding clasp from Cartier closes the strap. The watch has just been fully serviced by Cartier.