Cartier brings style to the skies with elegant new additions to its Santos-Dumont and Santos de Cartier men’s watch collections
In 1904, Alberto Santos-Dumont asked his friend Louis Cartier for a watch he could read while flying. What followed was not merely a timepiece but a revolution — the first modern wristwatch, and the beginning of one of horology’s most enduring design codes. More than a century later, Cartier revisits that legacy with two new additions that honour the aviator’s restless elegance while pushing the craft firmly into the present.
The Santos-Dumont: Obsidian and Ambition
The centrepiece of the new Santos-Dumont is its dial — a feat of gem-cutting that few workshops in the world could attempt. Cut from gilded obsidian, a volcanic stone sourced from Mexico, it measures just 0.3mm in depth, placing it in the same territory of fragility as glass. What makes the stone remarkable is what lies within: tiny air bubbles trapped during the lava’s cooling give the surface its iridescent, shifting reflections. No two dials are identical. Once cut, each stone is polished by hand to reveal its full radiance — a process that demands both traditional mastery and precise modern technique.
The rest of the watch is shaped by the same attention to detail that defined Santos-Dumont the man, a figure as known for his personal style as for his aeronautical records. A flexible precious metal bracelet — fluid and supple against the wrist — replaces the conventional strap, lending the piece what Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s Director of Image, Style and Heritage, calls “contemporary elegance.” The classic codes remain intact: Roman numerals on the dial, the circular-grained crown, visible screws, and the signature blue cabochon. The result is a watch that is unmistakably Santos, yet entirely new.
The Santos de Cartier Chronograph: Speed Made Wearable
Where the Santos-Dumont leans into dandyism and precious materials, the new Santos de Cartier Chronograph is driven by a different impulse — performance. Building on the chronograph launched in 2020, this edition has been rethought with everyday wear in mind, without sacrificing the sense of occasion the Santos name carries. The dial has been refined, the proportions reconsidered, and three versions offered: full gold, gold and steel, and all-steel, each speaking to a different wearer.
The inspiration, as ever, traces back to the aviator himself. Santos-Dumont was obsessed with speed. In 1906, he covered 220 metres in 21 seconds — a record that announced to the world that powered flight had truly arrived. It is that spirit the new chronograph is built to channel: the desire to push beyond what exists, to measure time not as an abstraction but as something conquered. In bringing that heritage into the 21st century, Cartier has produced a chronograph that wears its history lightly while remaining entirely focused on what comes next.
Together, the two releases make a compelling case for the Santos as Cartier’s most alive collection — one foot in 1904, the other firmly planted in the present.
