Cartier Santos Dumont - Platinum - Mécanique - Ref 1575

Alberto Santos-Dumont was born in 1873 in Cabunga, Brazil to a wealthy family of coffee producers. His father was an engineer who made himself a fortune developing techniques for his coffee plantations, earning himself the title of ‘Coffee King of Brazil’. However, as a result of a horse-riding accident, Alberto’s father was paralysed in 1891 and moved his family to Europe where he sought treatment.

In Paris, after seeing hot air balloons, Alberto developed a keen interest in flight. After his father’s death in 1892, Alberto continued to spend time in Paris and he was soon designing his own balloons. His first design, the Brésil, was first flown in 1898. Soon after, Dumont designed his first steerable balloon called ‘dirigible’, building a total of 11 by 1905. It wasn’t all success however, in 1901 he lost during his first attempt at the Deutsch de la Meurthe, but he was back later that year winning first prize. This win made Dumont an international celebrity and in 1904, Alberto Santos-Dumont asked his friend, Louis Cartier to make him a wristwatch to fly. Eliminating the annoyance of checking his pocket watch while he was flying.

The significance of this piece is well known, it was Cartier’s first wristwatch and the first pilot wristwatches ever made. The watch that became known as the Cartier Santos-Dumont, still sold by Cartier today. 

Introduced by Cartier in the 90's, Reference 1575-1 has a platinum case which is satin finished with a polished platinum bezel which gives a very nice contrast to the case. On the back of the case the "Cartier Paris"  engraving followed by "Mecanique" and along with the reference,  and the serial number. The 1575-1 were mostly produced in yellow gold, not many were made in platinum. 

The silver dial with its rosette-guilloché pattern has black printed Roman numerals and an outer railway minute tracker.  The hands are made of steel and are blued. 

The manual wound 021 MC is based on the Frédéric Piguet 21. It was designed to be the thinnest watch movement available, and it achieved this goal notably: It retained the record for 21 years. Even without the record, this 90 year old movement design continues to be produced.

The 021MC has a power reserve of 42 hours. The diameter of the movement is 20.4mm and is just 1.75 mm thick and it has 18 jewels. The movement originally oscillated at 18,000 A/h but later versions were boosted to 21,600 A/h.

The Santos Dumont is fitted with a nude nubuck strap that contrast well with the silver dial and the blued hands. 

The watch comes with its original Cartier white gold folding buckle and its Cartier box. An extra service dial is included in the set as well. 

If you desire to take a closer look at this precious timepiece, don't hesitate to contact us and make an appointment. 

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