Cartier Santos Watches

About Cartier Santos Watches

The Santos is not only a significant watch for the Cartier brand but also for the watch industry as a whole. The creation of the Santos spurred both the birth of the pilot’s watch and the popularization of the wristwatch. Since the concept of an alternative watch that could be easily read while flying stemmed as a request from aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont, the model was dubbed the Cartier Santos.

Cartier partnered with Jaeger-LeCoultre to provide the movement and the Santos became publicly available in 1911. The design saw only minor adjustments for decades until 1970, when a simple and more affordable iteration of the Santos was released. In 2018, Cartier fans rejoiced with the long-awaited reemergence of the Santos collection.

Since then, the brand has started to push the bounds of watchmaking with the collection. In 2019, they added a chronograph variation as well as a fully lumed skeletonized version. The latter is the Santos de Cartier Skeleton ADLC Noctambule, which means “night owl.” It features a totally unique skeletonized baseplate designed to stand in as the dial. Cartier has completely blacked out the entire construction in amorphous diamond-like carbon (ADLC). This serves as a stark contrast against the Super-LumiNova-filled movement and hands.