Cartier ‘s newest sports watch for 2015 is the Ronde Croisiere collection, and in many ways, it is an unexpected but not surprising move from the brand. Cartier is the most important brand within the larger Richemont Group of luxury companies, easily out-earning its colleague watch making family members such as Piaget, Panerai, Vacheron Constantin, IWC, and more. That means Cartier has a lot of responsibility to not only pick up on, but also react to market trends and demands. The Cartier Ronde Croisiere, when looked at from various perspectives, can very much be seen as Cartier’s answer to what some collector’s have voiced interest in, as well as what the consumer watch market seems to demand.
So what are those cries that Cartier is responding to? Well, for one thing, people are really into relatively simple and classic looking sports watches. Second, people have been complaining (and in many instances, very rightly so) that luxury watch prices are simply too high for what they are getting. Thus, the Cartier Ronde Croisiere is not only a retro-inspired casual sports watch, but is also a model – with an in-house movement – that comes with a starting price of well below $5,000.
Another reason is simply “design.” Totally counter to the logic most watch lovers have, some designers feel that “hands are simply too bold and take over a dial.” Well, that is sort of the point isn’t it? Designers seem to be skeletonizing hands to reduce their visual “weight” in order to (in their mind) make a watch dial appear more aesthetically harmonious. Of course, to anyone who appreciates watches for actually reading the time at a glance, this notion seems… well, just really misguided.
At launch, there are three versions of the Cartier Ronde Croisiere and, while they are all attractive in the abstract, only one I can universally suggest as something to buy. That would be the silver dial model with the black hands. This is the only version where you have enough contrast between the dial and the hands for the watch to be legible in most situations. The gray dial is a close second, but not as good as the silver dial. On this model, Cartier was good enough to satin-finish the hands so that they provide more contrast with the shiny gray dial. Again, it is not as legible as the silver dial, but it is manageable. However, the most interesting model with the gray dial and pink gold-toned accents is almost totally illegible in many lighting situations. I can get creative with the photography and show the dial in its most flattering light (literally), but it would be misleading to suggest this as a sport watch that can be relied upon to easily tell the time at a glance. That is really a shame because I quite like that model.
In fact, when seeing these watches on my wrist, one of the first things I thought was “this is such a cool concept, and I want to adore these timepieces. I wonder if you could simply replace the hands with something better – filled with lume?” There are watch modifiers who could probably do this, and perhaps Cartier will change the Cartier Ronde Croisiere hands in the future. I don’t know, but my advice to them is that this would be a much better watch with hands that can be read on all dials.
The Cartier Ronde Croisiere is designed with a bezel that looks like a rotating diver’s bezel but it is fixed. The steel bezel has an ADLC black coating in a matte finish to give it that distinct look. This works really well on the steel and gold model that adds some 18k pink gold-plated accents on the bezel and an 18k pink gold crown. Black spinel is used as the cabochon material in the crown, versus the more common blue sapphire crystal of many other Cartier watches. The crown is very much within the scope of Cartier design DNA.
Cartier is a brand known for doing a lot of things right. They spend an awful lot of time making sure their cases are both refined and comfortable, and their timepieces tend to have an actual market appeal and wearing purpose. Another issue I would, however, like to take is with their deployant clasp used on most watches with straps. The system involves severely bending each side of the strap in order to size the watch – which is a bit frustrating. The good news is that when done correctly, you get a very precise fit. Also, the deployant uses a tension lock which, for me, always feels like you have to apply way too much pressure to close it. They look nice, but I’ve found putting on some Cartier watches to not be as “luxury” as it should be. Nevertheless, Cartier has some excellent bracelets with corresponding deployants, so I know the brand is capable of more.
