Cartier. A fine and unusual 18K gold asymmetrical wristwatch

SIGNED CARTIER, LONDON, NO. 24175C, MANUFACTURED IN 1986

Details

Cartier. A fine and unusual 18K gold asymmetrical wristwatch
Signed Cartier, London, no. 24175C, manufactured in 1986
With rectangular-shaped nickel-finished lever movement, 18 jewels, the white matt dial with Roman numerals, in asymmetrical case with cabochon sapphire-set crown, the back secured by four screws in the band, hidden lugs, together with an 18K gold Cartier asymmetrical deployant clasp no. 24175C, case signed, numbered and with London date letter for 1986, dial and movement signed
43 mm. overall length

Lot Essay

Jean-Jacques Cartier and R. Emerson designed the "Crash" watch in the 1960s, the first series made by Cartier London comprised only 15 examples.

The present watch is from the second series, also manufactured by the company's London branch, and launched in the mid 1980s.

The model is designed after the 'limp' watch in Salvador Dali's painting The Persistence of Memory, 1931, exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Dali got his inspiration for the 'limp' watch from Camembert cheese and described it with the phrase "nothing else than the tender, extravagant and solitary paranoic-critical Camembert of time and space".

A similar watch is illustrated in Le Temps de Cartier by J. Barracca, G. Negretti, F. Nencini, p. 295.

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