Cartier Brings Back the Santos-Dumont

The watch Louis Cartier made for a Brazilian aviator in 1904 returns this year in platinum and yellow gold, on a new mesh bracelet. More than a century on, it still has the best origin story in watchmaking.

In the first years of the twentieth century, the most famous man in the skies over Paris was a Brazilian named Alberto Santos-Dumont. He flew airships over the rooftops of the city, and he had a problem. In the air he needed both hands on the controls, and his watch was in his waistcoat pocket.

A watch for a man's wrist

The story goes that he raised it with his friend Louis Cartier over dinner at Maxim's. Even sources close to Cartier describe that conversation as folklore. What is documented is the result: in 1904, Cartier, working with the watchmaker Edmond Jaeger, made his friend a watch to wear on the wrist.

Wristwatches already existed, but they were worn by women. Men carried pocket watches. The Santos-Dumont was a wristwatch made for a man, as a tool, and that changed how men would wear watches for the century that followed.

Santos-Dumont wore it when he flew. In 1906, at Bagatelle outside Paris, he flew 220 metres in 21.5 seconds, a flight captured on film. The watch went on public sale in 1911.

The new models

This year Cartier presented the Santos-Dumont in platinum and in yellow gold, on a new mesh bracelet assembled from 394 individual links, each just over a millimetre thick. Two carry silvered dials, and one an obsidian dial.

It is a quieter, dressier watch than the Santos de Cartier, the sportier model on its integrated bracelet. The Santos-Dumont is slimmer and sits closer to the original 1904 proportions, which makes it one of the more elegant choices for a shirt cuff.

How a square watch wears

Square and rectangular cases wear larger than their measurements suggest, because the corners cover wrist a round case leaves empty. If you are choosing a Santos, try more than one size before deciding. Our guide to what size watch you should wear explains why.