LOIUS MOINET Watches

Louis Cartier (1875–1942) was a famous French watchmaker and businessman known worldwide for his watch designs. Cartier was passionate about mechanical pocket watches and had the goal of creating his own line of timepieces. Although Patek Philippe created the first wristwatch in 1868, Louis Cartier is responsible for helping to popularize it over the traditional pocket watch

HISTORY

In 1904, his Brazilian friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, an early aviation pioneer, asked Louis Cartier to design a watch that could be used during his flights, since pocket watches were not suitable. Louis Cartier created for him the Santos wristwatch, which was also the first wristwatch, made for men. Santos first went on sale in 1911, the date of Cartier's first commercial production of wristwatches. In Rue de la Paix he designed timepieces with the help of Edmond Jaeger who agreed to supply Cartier's watch line with movements

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The most important steps in Cartier's family business were made over several generations by the goldsmith Louis Francois Cartier, his son Alfred Cartier, and his three grandsons, Pierre, Jacque and Louis Francois. While his father Alfred managed the production of jewelry, Louis Francois and his two brothers, Pierre and Jacques, were the ones to help the family business expand. They eventually turned the Cartier brand into the most well-known name in the world of jewelry and watch making. In 1899 the Cartier family moved their Paris store to the elegant Rue de la Paix; later stores in London (1902), Moscow (1908) and New York (1909) followed.

In 1912 Cartier introduced two models still in production today, the Baignoire and Tortue; 1917 saw the debut of the Tank. It was also during this period that Cartier began adding reference numbers to the watches it sold, usually by stamping a four-digit code on the underside of a lug. In fact, many collectors refuse to accept a Cartier as an original unless these numbers are present.