Santos Dumont 34.6 Pink Gold

The Santos is one of the most historically significant wristwatches ever produced. Designed by Louis Cartier in 1904 for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont — the Brazilian aviator who needed to check the time while flying without releasing his aircraft's controls — it was among the first purpose-built wristwatches for men, at a time when wristwatches were considered exclusively feminine accessories. The exposed screws on the bezel, originally a functional necessity of the case construction, became one of the most recognisable design signatures in watchmaking. The modern Santos retains these screws, the square case with rounded corners, and the Roman numeral dial that have defined the model for over a century.

The Cartier Santos Dumont is both an ode to one of Cartier's first wristwatches as well as a more elegant take on the regular Santos(100). Reference W2006951 has a pink gold case of 44.6 mm x 34.6 mm. Motivation comes from the ultra-thin Piaget-based caliber 430MC.