The Cartier Pebble Watch and Jean-Jacques Cartier

Another week, another record for vintage #CartierLondon. This time, the spotlight was on the #CartierPebble (sometimes known as the ‘baseball’), which was up for auction yesterday @phillipsauction in Geneva with an estimate of CHF 50-100k.

This one was made in 1972, under my grandfather #JeanJacquesCartier. An artist at heart, he was a lover of design (pictured here just after studying at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs). As with all Cartier London watches at that time, the unusual gold pebble-shaped case was made in the #WrightandDavies workshop in Clerkenwell by a skilled goldsmith (most likely the highly skilled workshop head, Sam Mayo). Once checked, it would have packed into a briefcase with the other cases, deployment buckles, and made-to-measure straps that had been completed that week and given to the young apprentice who would jump on the 38 bus to Piccadilly Circus, then walk the ten minutes to #175NewBondSt. No taxis, security vans or security guards: the tried and tested Cartier formula was that no one would ever suspect a scruffy looking boy on a bus was carrying anything worth stealing. Entering through the staff entrance, the apprentice and his case would head upstairs into the small watchmaking division and pass it over to master watchmaker Eric Denton to perform his magic…

What’s amazing about these watches is that so many individual parts were handmade: from the case to the dial, to the hands, to the sapphire winder. Each watch took several months to make and if you wanted one, you put your name on the waiting list and just had to wait. Today, you’re likely to have to wait even longer for these vintage pebbles… even rarer than the more famous Crash Watch, the few that JJC did make were in two sizes for men and women (a woman’s one sold a few years ago at Christies).

Some auctions are fascinating, they can be almost gladiatorial – yesterday’s was like that. The bidding was fast and furious, ultimately coming down to blow after blow between 2 bidders, one in Michigan and the other in Monaco. And the final price? I think even my grandfather would have been astounded: it reached a mind-blowing CHF 403,200...