Sandra‘s Closet

Right in time for Watches & Wonders next week, Cartier presents its newest must-have watch: Clash [Un]limited which is characterised by an elegant mechanism that stands out for its beauty, creating a jewellery watch that combines finesse with power.

Personally speaking, I am absolutely blown away by this new model. With beads, picot studs, clou carrés and mobility, the Clash de Cartier codes flow, intertwine, forge their way and manifest themselves in the form of a precious watch.

From faceted corners and bevelled dials to full and empty spaces, as well as round and square elements, its geometry is constant and true to the Maison’s style. A culture of design counterbalanced by Cartier’s graphic precision through movement, from the beads that roll over each other to the hinges of the bracelet, all articulated to create softness on the skin. An ambition to structure the watch and create perspective: from the form of its links to the mini case with its sixteen-faceted cut glass that accentuates the distinctive lines.

My favorite: SMALL MODEL, QUARTZ MOVEMENT, YELLOW AND VIOLET GOLD

The legacy of Jeanne Toussaint and her sense of volume comes to mind. As early as the 1930s, she dared to provoke glittering collisions between preciousness and the industrial aesthetic of ball bearings. A natural link between the past and present, as seen in this Clash [Un]limited watch, which also uses chromatic contrasts to emphasise the geometric motifs. How? Firstly, by alternating brushed and satin-finish gold, then by combining yellow or rose gold with violet gold, a new shade of gold in tones of shimmering violet, entirely developed for Cartier. It punctuates the watch, from the clou carré to the beads on the bracelet.

With variations on the same theme in limited-edition releases, the Clash [Un]limited watch is available in diamond-paved yellow gold, rose gold and white gold. It also unites exceptional pieces with stones that enhance the design in black and white with onyx, black spinels, obsidian and diamonds, or in different colours with coral, black spinels, chrysoprase, tsavorites and diamonds. Designed by the Cartier watchmaking studios, the Clash [Un]limited watch resides in the Maison’s creative repertoire of jewellery watches.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Cartier
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The idea behind CARTIER Clash [Un]Limited was to create a collection that was limitless in terms of creativity, innovation and style; which resulted in limited-edition jewellery pieces including the unique and spectacular Baignoire mitten watch – a watch inserted into a gold and diamond mitten that dares to be extravagant and unexpected.

The Clash [Un]Limited mitten watch has a second-skin effect that covers three quarters of the hand, achieved using 3D printing. This unique piece was developed at the innovation unit of the Maison des Métiers d’Art in collaboration with a master glove-maker who provided the initial design.

Lily Collins sporting the Clash [Un]Limited mitten watch.

Remarkably supple, it is made up of a rose gold mesh set with a constellation of diamonds surrounding a Baignoire Allongée watch with a diamond-paved dial hemmed with studs. It constituted a major challenge for CARTIER’s artisans who meticulously assembled thousands of tiny gold particles, welded together thanks to the extreme precision of lasers and small pliers inspired by microsurgery. It also called for a creative dialogue between all the different crafts and skills, starting with the watchmakers who were faced with the challenge of concealing the watch’s winding crown under the dial, followed by the jewellers who set, on an infinitely small scale, nearly 1600 diamonds. The CARTIER mitten watch took two years to develop and almost 227 hours of work to complete and is a single piece.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © Cartier
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