Marquetry is the art of applying carefully cut and often tiny pieces of wood veneer (and other materials) to an underlying structure to form a decorative image or pattern. At the highest levels, the craft requires an artist’s eye, deep knowledge of the selected woods, and a steady hand to execute the fine cuts. The Rotonde de Cartier with bear motif combines marquetry and watchmaking to produce a limited series of uniquely artistic timepieces.

Everything begins with the design, which inspires the marquetry craftsman to select each wood for its color, grain and texture. Ten species of natural European wood blend together to create the bear’s fur: holly, chestnut, poplar, willow, grey and pink maple, walnut and burr walnut, mottled maple and grey aningeria. The woods are deftly combined to create the illusion of depth and perspective through reflections and contrasts. Tiny details, such as hair-thin lines representing shadows, add a lifelike quality.

Numerous steps and an investment of over 160 hours of work per dial assure that each piece is perfect, and unique.

The 42mm watch case is rendered in white gold and the timekeeping is handled by a manual winding Calibre 9905 MC with jumping hours.

The Rotonde de Cartier with bear motif will be produced in a limited series of 50 pieces, priced at $80,500. The watch image below may be enlarged significantly with a click.

Below, a stock of wood selected for its unique characteristics.

The craftsman selects wood to evoke the animal’s fur.

Steady hands are required to saw precisely along the middle of a line 0.13 mm wide to cut out all the elements of the marquetry, from the largest to the smallest, through a thickness of ten sheets laid one on top of the other. Here, the craftsman is cutting the grey element that will form the background.

Elements of the dial await assembly.

The finished timepiece is a work of art.

Cartier is debuting the second installment of their Calibre de Cartier video on Facebook and YouTube. You can also see it full screen at the Calibre de Cartier mini site, and of course at Cartier.com. Click any of the links to take a look.

In 2009, Cartier introduced its first timepiece in which skeletonized bridges in the form of Roman numerals acted as the dial of the watch. This year Cartier takes this art to a new level with the limited edition Pasha de Cartier skeleton flying tourbillon. Find wallpaper and pricing inside.

The Pasha is one of Cartier’s design icons. In the past, the case and dial captured the eye first, but in this new interpretation, the movement stands front and center. The Calibre 9457 MC has a specially developed flying tourbillon escapement. For the first time, its bridges take the form of Arabic numerals, which have always been one of the distinctive design elements of the Pasha de Cartier watch.

This model has a diameter of 42mm and a Geneva Seal movement where empty space contrasts with depth and textures created by hand-applied finishes such as beveled bridges, satin-brushed sides and circular-grained wheels. The stylized and engraved 3, 9 and 12 frame the flying tourbillon’s carriage at six o’clock. The movement is driven by a skeletonized barrel with visible mainspring.

Produced in a limited edition of 100 timepieces priced at approximately $129,000, this new interpretation of the skeleton watch marks the Pasha’s official entry into the Cartier Fine Watchmaking Collection.

Additional technical information appears below the images, which may be enlarged significantly with a click.

Pasha de Cartier skeleton flying tourbillon watch

Case: 18 carat white gold
Diameter: 42 mm
Crown: fluted in 18 carat white gold, set with a sapphire cabochon
Crystal: sapphire
Case back: sapphire crystal
Water-resistance: 30 metres / 100 feet / 3 bar
Skeleton without dial
Hands: diamond-shaped in blued steel
Strap: black alligator skin
Clasp: double adjustable folding in 18 carat white gold
Limited series of 100 individually numbered timepieces

Movement: Skeleton flying tourbillon Calibre 9457 MC, Geneva Seal

Manufacture mechanical movement with manual winding, Calibre 9457 MC, certified Geneva Seal, flying tourbillon, skeletonised bridges in the form of Arabic numerals
Casing-up diameter: 14¾ lines (33.1 mm)
Total diameter: 15 lines (33.5 mm)
Thickness: 5.48 mm
Number of jewels: 19
Number of parts: 175
Balance: 21,600 vibrations/hour
Power reserve: approx. 50 hours
Individually numbered movement

Approximate USA retail price: $129,000

Last year Cartier launched the Calibre de Cartier line powered by the brand’s in-house 1904-PS movement. The watch represented an important step for the brand. Despite the clearly sporty aesthetics, the Calibre de Cartier was available only on a strap. At SIHH 2011, a new and decidedly more sporting version debuted on a bracelet. Find pricing inside.

The new models are available in stainless steel with black or silver dial, and in 18K rose gold and stainless steel with a silver dial. The bracelets feature wide polished center links and thinner brushed outer links with a deployant-style folding clasp. At 42mm x 10mm, the case dimensions have not changed. Water resistance is 30 meters.

For more on this watch and the movement that powers it, click here.

As we go to press, only approximate U.S. pricing is available: steel version $7000; steel and gold $10,950

Last year Cartier launches the Calibre de Cartier line powered by the brand’s in-house 1904-PS movement. The watch represented an important step for the brand. Despite the clearly sporty aesthetics, the Calibre de Cartier was available only on a strap. At SIHH 2011, a new and decidedly more sporting version debuted on a bracelet.

The new models are available in stainless steel with black or silver dial, and in 18K rose gold and stainless steel with a silver dial. The bracelets feature wide polished center links and thinner brushed outer links with a deployant-style folding clasp. At 42mm x 10mm, the case dimensions have not changed. Water resistance is 30 meters.

For more on this watch and the movement that powers it, click here.

As we go to press, only approximate U.S. pricing is available: steel version $7000; steel and gold $10,950

Ultra-thin watches were one of the more noticeable trends at SIHH this year. Cartier’s new creation in this category is the Extra-flat Ballon Bleu de Cartier. This distinctive timepiece retains Cartier’s signature design elements, and at 46mm, it is a powerful presence on the wrist, despite its diminutive profile. Find pricing and wallpaper images inside.

The Extra-flat Ballon Bleu de Cartier is available in pink gold, white gold, and platinum. The gold versions have silver guilloché dials, while the dial on the platinum version is deep blue. All versions have a blue cabochon crown, and water resistance is 30 meters. All three versions are available in numbered limited series.

As we go to press, only approximate U.S. pricing is available: pink gold $20,300, white gold $21,800, platinum $32,550.

The images below may be enlarged substantially with a click.

Extra-flat Ballon Bleu de Cartier watch
Case: 18 carat pink or white gold; 950/1000 platinum
Diameter: 46 mm
Crown: fluted and set with a sapphire cabochon
Crystal: sapphire
Water-resistance: 30 meters / 100 ft / 3 bar
Hands: sword-shaped in blued or rhodium-plated steel
Strap: brown or blue alligator skin
Clasp: double adjustable folding in 18 carat pink or white gold, or 950/1000 platinum

Calibre 9909 MC is the first multiple time zone movement to feature in Cartier’s Fine Watchmaking Collection, housed in a Calibre de Cartier watch. The movement is entirely developed and produced within the Cartier Manufacture.

At SIHH today, Cartier presented a new version of the multiple time zone complication, which aims to provide:

- the home time with day/night indication, the traveler’s local time, adjustment for summer or daylight savings time and – something quite unique – the time difference between the two selected time zones, which some might call the jet lag display.

- excellent readability of all the functions in a limited space

- simple setting and checking of all functions and displays.

Home time is indicated on the lower dial in the center of the watch by a day/night hand featuring sun and moon symbols. Local time in the traveler’s location is shown by the main hands, which enable the second time zone to be read directly.

The self-winding Caliber 9909 MC differs from standard multiple time zone movements in that its cities disc is completely integrated into the movement and is visible in a lateral magnifier on the 9 o’clock side of the case, rather than on the dial. This clever mechanism avoids overloading the dial.

The time in each of the 24 reference cities is read by pressing the pivoting push-piece. Each press reveals a different city, its local time, and the time difference between the home time and the traveler’s time.

As a final innovation, the Calibre de Cartier multiple time zone watch takes the change to and from summer time into account, an important feature in several countries around the world. To achieve this, the reference scale on the cities disc simply needs to be altered for the five months during which summer time is in operation.

The Calibre de Cartier multiple time zone model is a robust 45mm in diameter. The design gives the piece a strong personality and the unmistakable Cartier aesthetic.

Technical information appears below the images, which may be enlarged with a click.

Calibre de Cartier multiple time zone watch, Calibre 9909 MC

Case: 18 carat white gold
Diameter: 45 mm
Crown: heptagonal in 18 carat gold, set with a faceted sapphire
Crystal: sapphire
Case back: sapphire crystal
Water-resistance: 30 metres / 100 feet / 3 bar
Upper dial: galvanic guilloché, slate-grey colour, silvered openwork grill with sunburst effect,
black transferred Roman numerals
Lower dial: silvered, with black transferred Arabic numerals
Hands: sword-shaped in blued steel
Day-night hands and multiple time zone hands: blued
Strap: black alligator skin
Clasp: double adjustable folding in 18 carat gold

Multiple time zone Calibre 9909 MC

Movement: Manufacture self-winding mechanical, Calibre 9909 MC, multiple time zone, cities
disc, day-night indication, time-difference display
Casing-up diameter: 11½ lines (25.58 mm)
Total diameter: 15½ lines (35.10 mm)
Thickness: 6.68 mm
Number of jewels: 27
Number of parts: 287
Balance: 28,800 vibrations/hour
Power reserve: approx. 48 hours
Individually numbered movement

Cartier’s in-house genius Carole Forestier takes a highly original approach to combating the effects of gravity on timekeeping. In a nutshell – quoting Cartier – “the escapement, the oscillator and the pendular seconds have been positioned on the rotor…”. Warning: trying to visualize an escapement mounted on a rotor may cause pain in the visual cortex. Let’s see how it was done…

The Astrorégulateur movement – Caliber 9800 MC – has been five years in the making and it is the object of four patent applications. The movement has been designed, developed, produced and assembled entirely within the Cartier Manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Watchmakers have long studied means to compensate for the effects of gravity on the balance spring; the tourbillon is perhaps the best-known mechanical countermeasure. The tourbillon carriage revolves on its own axis, typically in one minute, averaging out the errors and so canceling variations in rate that occur in the vertical positions. Cartier offers an alternate solution. Again quoting Cartier:

“Isochronism depends on the regularity of the oscillating frequency and as this is disturbed by the effects of gravity, the oscillator should ideally have a single center of gravity that remains constant in every vertical position. Cartier has therefore designed an innovative anti-gravity system using the only element that always returns to the same position in the vertical plane: the rotor.

In the 9800 MC Astrorégulateur movement, the escapement, the oscillator and the pendular seconds have been positioned on the rotor to maintain the center of gravity in a single position. By adjusting the oscillator in this one position, the master watchmaker ensures that the platform of the Astrorégulateur movement avoids the disturbing effect of gravity on timekeeping in all vertical positions.”

As can be seen in the image below, the balance wheel and hairspring are mounted opposite (in this image, above) the micro-rotor’s oscillating weight. SJX has posted a 12 second YouTube video showing the spinning rotor/escapement combination in action.

During the course of an average day, your wrist moves in many directions and at differing speeds, subjecting the escapement to a variety of accelerations as the rotor spins. In this regard Cartier says “The unpredictable movements of the wearer’s wrist apply forces of various strengths on the entry lip of the escapement. These forces must be corrected in order to maintain the escapement at a constant speed, as this is a necessary condition for good timekeeping. The watchmaker-designers therefore invented a system composed of two differentials that change the speed transmitted by the wrist to the micro-rotor into a constant speed, thus ensuring the regular advance of the seconds indicator that moves with the rotor and, therefore, the good timing performance of the watch.”

Cartier also offsets the escapement’s weight, which might inhibit the rotor’s motion, by integrating a platinum “inertia block” into the micro-rotor to guarantee that it is heavy enough to achieve winding and to always return to the same position when at rest.

Each movement receives 60 hours of hand finishing. The main plate is circular-grained, while the bridges are beveled, drawn and decorated with Côtes de Genève. The 32.5mm movement is housed in an oversized 50mm case that weighs a mere 55 grams. This is achieved by fashioning the case from niobium-titanium alloy, previously used only in the ID One concept watch.

The Astrorégulateur will be produced in a limited series of 50 numbered pieces worldwide, each powered by an individually numbered movement. I think it is safe to say that this piece will generate quite a buzz at SIHH 2011.

Technical specifications:

Rotonde de Cartier Astrorégulateur watch

Case: niobium-titanium on leather
Diameter: 50 mm
Crown: circular-grained in titanium or 18 carat white gold, set with a sapphire cabochon.
Crystal : sapphire
Case back: sapphire crystal
Water-resistance: 30 meters / 100 ft / 3 bars
Dial: galvanic guilloché, slate-gray color, silvered openwork grill with sunburst effect, black transferred Roman numerals
Hands: sword-shaped in blued steel
Strap: black alligator skin
Clasp: double adjustable folding in 18 carat gold

Limited series of 50 individually numbered timepieces

Calibre 9800 MC Astrorégulateur
Movement: Manufacture self-winding mechanical , Calibre 9800 MC, hours, minutes, with escapement fitted on the oscillating weight to counteract the effects of gravity in vertical positions.
Casing-up diameter : 15 ½ lines (35.2 mm)
Total diameter: 15 ¾ lines (35.8 mm)
Thickness: 10.1 mm
Number of jewels: 43
Number of parts: 281
Balance: 21,600 vibrations/hour
Power reserve: approx. 80 hours
Individually numbered movement

Now through March, Cartier is showcasing their entire Fine Watchmaking line throughout the United States. The tour began earlier this month, and there are eight stops remaining. This exclusive collection is rarely seen in one location. View these timepieces at Cellini in the Waldorf Astoria in New York City October 30-November 10. The remaining tour dates and locations are inside.

When Ben Affleck’s new film The Town premiered at Boston’s storied Fenway Park, the star (and writer/director) was wearing a Calibre de Cartier in stainless steel with white dial. Affleck’s crime thriller is set in Boston, and Fenway is his favorite ball park, so the non-traditional premier location makes sense.

In the film, Affleck leads a gang of bank robbers. They haven’t been caught yet, but Affleck knows their luck will eventually run out. He’s looking for one last big score so he can find a new future. His romantic interest in a bank manager he took hostage adds another complication.

The Town is in theaters now. The film also stars John Hamm, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner and Chris Cooper.