Cartier Paris Belle Époque Lapel Watch

Created in the first decade of the 20th century, this platinum, diamond and enamel pendant watch is an early model by Cartier Paris. The watch with black enamel case, signed, silvered engine-turned dial with Arabic numeral indicators, jeweled lever escapement movement, blued steel "Breguet" hands, and sapphire winding stem is suspended by two flexible, reverse-graduating lines of old mine and old single-cut diamonds from a grosgrain strap mounted with geometric-form lapel pin and bar slides, set throughout with rose, old mine and old single-cut diamond accents. A Cartier jeweled timepiece of strong modernism, anticipating the Art Deco sensibility by almost 20 years, this rare pendant watch exemplifies the bold originality and vigor of the firm's energetic third generation.

Country: France
Circa: 1902-1909
Dimensions: 3.75" length, 1.25" width.
Materials: 112 rose-cut diamonds (approximate total weight 1.15 carats); 84 old mine-cut diamonds (approximate total weight 1.53 carats); 1 cabochon sapphire (approximate total weight 0.10 carat); Platinum; 18K Gold; Grosgrain silk ribbon
Gram Weight: 29.6 g
Signed: Cartier Paris Londres , French Assay marks

In Cartier 1900-1939, the curator Judy Rude notes that, at Maison Cartier, "the combination of onyx (or black enamel) and diamonds goes back to the first decade of the century." The Louis Cartier Notebooks document that, by 1910, the firm was offering clients the combination of diamonds and black enamel/onyx as daytime wear, encouraging the casual transgression of the long-standing prohibition against such ostentation.