2001 Cartier Tank Basculante Mechanical 2390 25.5mm
Ref: 2390
Specification
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : Box
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold with an original Cartier presentation box, but no paperwork is provided. The watch comes paired with its original Cartier 20mm leather strap with a shapely Cartier deployment clasp. The watch is from Circa. 2001 and is sold in worn condition, but overall fair condition as you can see from the photos. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/120XoK9tpambtKvkIrj6sTXCxVkYIPCXx?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 13:37 - https://youtu.be/6rqLw18q1Ak
The Watch
Here we have a 2001 Cartier Tank Basculante Mechanical 2390 designed at a time when it became fashionable to wear a watch while playing Tennis and golf, patented in 1932 with its unique solution to protecting the watch's crystal and bezel with a simple snap the watch reverses showing its case back. The 25.5mm iconic stainless steel Tank case is screwed in the centre to allow the watch to rotate, the straight polished sides have rounded corners leading to a lug-to-lug length of 37mm and a case thickness of just 6mm ensuring a comfortable fit on your wrist. At 12 o’clock we have a blue cabochon adding a pop of colour, Cartier decided to place the crown at 12 o’clock due to the frame screws in the usual 3 o’clock position. A flat sapphire crystal sits above an off-white guilloché dial, a stepped edge gives the impression you are looking at a picture frame. Radiating Roman numeral indexes mark the hours around an inner minute track precisely executed in black, simple yet elegant thermally blued hands complete this sophisticated timepiece. On the reverse, a case back with vertical brushing, inside an incredibly thin manually wound Cartier 060MC with 21 jewels, beating at 21,600 beats per hour, based on the Frédéric Piguet Cal. 610. The watch comes fitted on its original Cartier 20mm leather strap with a shapely Cartier deployment clasp and Cartier presentation box.
Personal Note
It is far from every day you come across a Cartier Basculante, even the quartz ones are getting harder and harder to find, so when a mechanical comes up for sale its one to jump on! These have risen in popularity in the past few years and are showing no signs of slowing down, a unique take on the reversing watch that become famous thanks to the JLC Reverso, however, with the thinness of this Baculante dare I say I prefer this to the Reverso? If you are unsure about this fantastic watch, book an appointment and come try it on for yourself.
The Brand
In 1847 Louis-Francois Cartier founded Cartier in Paris, France. He quickly established himself by catering to the elites in society, in 1903 they created their first men's wristwatch, inspired by his pilot friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who called it the Santos. Just 4 years later in 1907, Cartier began a partnership with Edmond Jaeger of the prominent watch brand Jaeger-LeCoultre. Jaeger agreed to be the exclusive supplier of movements for Cartier watches, in 1917 they debuted the Tank. Their watches were so popular that copies soon appeared, to counteract this, Cartier introduced reference numbers to each watch. In 1919 they introduced the Tank which was inspired by the robust American tank used in the first world war, it has been famously worn by many over the years including Andy Warhol, Alain Delon, Clarke Gable, Catherine Deneuve, and Duke Ellington. The early watches were all handmade in France, with movements by Jaeger. In 1972, a group of investors led by financial wizard Joseph Kanoui bought the company. In 1973 we saw the first “Must de Cartier'' boutique open in Biarritz, followed by one in Singapore. During the 1980s they acquired several non-jewellery businesses such as Beaume et Mercier in 1988 and Piaget and Alderbert in 1989. Today Cartier is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swiss Richemont Group that includes IWC, Montblanc, and Vacheron Constantin.