News Around 180 Cartier exhibits on show at the Musée Bellerive in Zurich, featuring both old and contemporary pieces, relate the brand’s history from 1874 to the present day.
«Cartier Time Art» includes the largest number of Cartier timepieces ever presented to the public and offers a rare opportunity to assess the brand’s creativity, from the company’s origins to the present day. This epoch-spanning collection of designs marries inventiveness with aesthetic and technical innovation and testifies to the vitality of the Cartier heritage in a watchmaking sense. The very rich vocabulary of shapes, designs and complications displayed by these objects showcases the manufactory’s high level of expertise. It is in this context that the Musée Bellerive presents twelve movements and seventeen luxury watches.
The exhibition’s journey begins in 1874 with a chatelaine watch in yellow gold, rose gold, enamel and pearls, and ends with a very contemporary piece, the Cartier ID One concept watch, in niobium-titanium, ADLC and carbon crystal. Modernity and avant-garde are two constant themes rooted in Cartier’s history, as evidenced by the 156 old timepieces of the Cartier collection also on show (chatelaine watches, wristwatches, travel clocks, etc). From one end to the other of this timescale, one obvious fact stands out: the spirit of boldness that inspired all Cartier contributors, from craftsmen to designers, and which informs the staging of the exhibition by its designer Tokujin Yoshioka.
For nearly four years, the Cartier collection of prestige timepieces has been fuelled by an unprecedented creative impulse, combining the innovation and imagination of watch designers with the know-how and excellence of the manufactory’s craftsmen. For the exhibition, Cartier has chosen to present twelve exceptional movements, featured in 17 watches, in an original three-dimensional setting.
Visitors can discover for example the 9800 MC calibre which beats at the heart of the Rotonde Astrorégulateur watch, an original movement which nullifies the effects of gravity on timing in the vertical position. The fruit of nearly five years of development, this calibre has been featured in several patent applications.
Taking the degree of inventiveness and research to an even higher level, Cartier presents the Cartier ID One concept watch. This timepiece, manufactured and assembled according to an innovative concept using cutting-edge materials and technologies, requires no adjustments throughout its working life.
In addition to emblematic creations such as the Santos wristwatch (marketed in 1911), the large Billiken mystery clock (1923), a very rare pocket watch with multiple complications dating from 1927 and the exceptional Tortue minute-repeater watch from 1928, visitors can discover the largest collection of mystery clocks ever presented to the public in one place.
Alongside respect for tradition and advanced technology, Cartier Time Art reveals the creative power of watchmaking wielded by the brand and testifies to the ongoing passion that has driven the watchmaker/jeweller since 1847.
Cartier Time Art runs at the Musée Bellerive in Zurich until 6 November: Tuesday to Sunday 10am to 5pm, Thursdays 10am to 8pm. It will then travel the world, with stopovers in Singapore, the United States, and lastly China.
September 13, 2011
