The Cartier Santos is, in many ways, the first modern wristwatch. Created for the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont after he complained about the difficulties of handling a pocket watch in flight, the Cartier Santos quickly became an icon of the times. It's only fitting, then, that Cartier turned around and gave it a space-age look with a skeletonised movement and DLC-black case.

Skeletonising a movement is actually far more complex than it initially seems. While the process does include removing much of the metal from the movement's plates, a lot of consideration has to be put into maintaining the structural integrity of the actual mechanism. This is to ensure that parts don't literally break from a lack of support.

Secondly, skeletonisation can easily double the the surface area on a movement that requires decoration. This means that it takes longer to produce a skeletonised movement, as there is more labour-intensive work.

As such, many watchmakers actually class their skeletonised watches under "complications", a term they otherwise reserve for annual calendars and chronographs.

Cartier's skeletonisation is even more impressive, given that the movement had to be entirely redesigned to fit in the rectangular case. Other watchmakers might repurpose a round movement to avoid the extra design and engineering work, but not Cartier.

CARTIER

Described by King Edward VII as 'the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers', Cartier is synonymous with perhaps more iconic designs than any other manufacturer. Sitting at the intersection between fine watchmaking and art, Cartier combines decades of heritage with an ability to create original and attractive watch designs.

From its birth in the 19th Century up to today, Cartier has earned a well-deserved reputation for being a manufacture that has successfully transformed the humble wristwatch from a soldier's tool into a true object of desire.