Cartier Santos wristwatch
Reloj de pulsera Cartier Santos
- Date
- 1904 · confidence medium
- Place
- Paris, France
- Credited to
- Louis Cartier, at the request of Alberto Santos-Dumont
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A square-cased wristwatch that Louis Cartier designed, according to the house tradition, so that Santos-Dumont could check the time in flight without taking his hands off the controls. It popularised the men's wristwatch.
Wristwatches existed since the 19th century (Patek Philippe, 1868; German naval watches); the Cartier–Santos-Dumont story comes from the maker, with a date of 1904, but commercial sales began in 1911.
What it led to
- Spread of the wristwatch among men
- Aviator and military watches