Cartier Santos Carrée Ref. 2964 - 'Midsize' Unpolished

The Cartier Santos is widely regarded as — wait for it....

...one of the very first wrist watches. Full stop. 

Predating the more iconic Tank Louis by nearly two decades, the first Santos can trace its roots all the way back to circa 1904 when one Mr. Cartier provided his friend and pilot, Alberto Santos Dumont, a timepiece to be worn on the wrist, rather than kept in a pocket. The Santos is fascinating from a historical perspective in that it was not only the first wristwatch designed to be worn by a male, but also the first pilot's watch.

Like so many icons, the Santos went on to see many variations, utilizing different sizes, movements, dials, and strap designs throughout its now 120-years of production. In the late 1970s, there were multiple variants available at the same time — one of which was faithful to the original design with a thin case profile, a manually-wound calibre, and came fitted to a leather strap — while another piece was introduced with an integrated bracelet, an automatic-winding movement, and featured a variety of dial options. 

The Santos that we have here is one of the latter, a Reference 2964 dating to circa the 1980s known as a Santos 'Carrée.' Around this time, the Santos Dumont was also in production and was largely a continuation of the original Santos in that it was fitted to a leather strap and was rather thin in profile.

This example is a not often seen 'midsize' example, coming in at approximately 27.5mm x 38.5mm. This is only about 1.5mm smaller in width and lug-to-lug length than the full-size example. In the grand scheme of the watch market, this is a very small change from a 'full size' to 'mid size.'

It comes to us in very nice, strong overall condition, with an unpolished case and matching yellow gold integrated endlink-style bracelet. It shows normal signs of wear and some sleeve-polish throughout, with clear engravings on the caseback. The sapphire cabochon crown remains crisp and full with no chips or damage like so many of these do. Inside, the white enamel 'Swiss' dial exhibits some surface wear and patina from age and presents nicely. The black printing and correct blued-steel 'sword' handset are also excellent.

This configuration, with the yellow gold construction and prototypical white enamel dial has gained quite a bit of traction in recent years amongst collectors, and we feel that its justified.

If you're keen to dip your feet into the world of Cartier, but the more fragile pieces aren't speaking to you, this might just be the perfect alternative.