Cartier Tank Obus Yellow Gold CPCP Mechanique Dial

The watch is in excellent condition with a few light scratches only, and has been fitted on a new Subdial Saffiano strap with the original Cartier gold buckle. Comes with a Cartier storage pouch.

Originally released in 1929, the Tank Obus is a playful spin on the original Tank design. Instead of the original oblong rectangular shape, the Obus features a square case. Most notably, the lugs are more elaborate and almost resemble bullets. This would be rather fitting, as the original Tank was inspired by and named after the then-novel WW1 vehicle.

CARTIER

Cartier comfortably sits at the intersection between fine watchmaking and art, combining years of heritage with eye-catching and unique case designs. From its inception in the turn of the 20th Century, 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.

When Cartier first started making watches in the early 20th century, it was a prolific manufacturer. Not only were its watch shapes completely innovative, but its mechanical movements were often sourced from recognized manufacturers of the day, companies like Jaeger LeCoultre and European Watch Co. It was a true golden age for Cartier, with iconic designs like the Tank Louis, Santos-Dumont, Tank Cintree, Asymetrique, and others tracing their roots to this time period. Further, these watches were truly handmade. Until the 1960s, the number of Tanks made per year by Cartier Paris was literally in the tens of watches. And this wasn’t some conspiratorial “artificial shortage”; production was limited by Cartier’s ability to produce or source the quality handmade components for these watches.

From 1998 through 2008, Cartier re-invested in Cartier. The Maison recreated many of its most classic shapes and watches from the original, early 20th-century era of Cartier watchmaking.

The result was the Collection Privée.

The CPCP is Cartier returning to its roots, without being overly burdened by tradition. While it brought back many of its classic shapes that had laid dormant for years, it sometimes (but not always) made case sizes slightly larger or introduced other aesthetic flourishes. Additionally, much like its golden age of watchmaking, Cartier relied on other movement manufacturers to provide high-quality calibers. This meant ultra-thin movements from Frederic Piguet, chronographs co-developed by a younger Journe, Halter, and Flageollet, and so on. But, these movements would be finished in-house by Cartier, often being put on display in a sapphire case back, another common staple of the Collection Privée. Many CPCP models were numbered limited editions, others were simply numbered sequentially. In either case, production numbers remained low. Given that this was Cartier’s return to classical, luxurious watchmaking, Collection Privée watches were only cased in precious metals -- it’s a stark contrast to the steel, two-tone, and even gold-plated watches that had come to define Cartier’s collection in the 1980s and 1990s.

CARTIER

Cartier comfortably sits at the intersection between fine watchmaking and art, combining years of heritage with eye-catching and unique case designs. From its inception in the turn of the 20th Century, 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.