Cartier 18ct gold gents vintage watch - rare - c1950

This is an extremely rare, beautiful Cartier gents' vintage watch that Stephen Baring is releasing from his personal collection. We release a few from our collection each year and they are worth serious consideration. Dating from around 1950, the watch is so rare that we have never seen it - probably only a handful would have been made. It really will provide an excellent financial investment. The Cartier museum would like to purchase the watch but we would rather offer it to our customers than wait months to go through their process.

The watch features a solid 18ct gold case with rare hooded lugs, a very clean dial and a clean, freshly serviced high-grade Jaeger LeCoultre 17 jewel movement. Jaeger LeCoultre made the movements for most vintage Cartier watches, a relationship that began in the early 1930s. Please note that this watch is not a rebadged Jaeger LeCoultre. You can tell this by the fact that the case carries French 18ct gold hallmarks, correct for Cartier, and hand stamped numbers on the back. The watch comes complete with a new quality leather strap and a new genuine Cartier watch pouch. The watch looks more impressive in reality, with the minor wear you would expect from a watch of this age. Please note that the watch is small by today’s larger standards; please check the case measurements below.

The solid 18ct gold case is in very good, bright condition, and features rare, unusual hooded lugs. It shows minor wear that can be polished out if the buyer wishes and measures 29mm wide, excluding the original winding crown x 7.5mm thick x 39mm long, including the hooded lugs. The outside back of the case is hand stamped with the ‘85497’ serial number. The inside back is stamped '75497' and carries the correct French hallmarks for solid 18ct gold.

The beautiful professionally restored Cartier dial is in excellent clean condition and features 18ct gold hour markers. The dial is signed ‘Cartier’. The original hands are in very good, unbent condition and the original lens is very clear.

The hand-wound high-grade 17 jewel movement was made for Cartier by the historic watchmakers Jaeger LeCoultre and is signed ‘Jaeger LeCoultre’, ‘Swiss’ and the ‘203860’ movement reference number. The movement has recently been cleaned and oiled by a professional watchmaker and is in excellent working order for its age.

As mentioned, the watch comes on a new quality leather strap, which suits it perfectly. The watch will be delivered with a new, genuine Cartier watch pouch (provided by Cartier Bond Street after they inspected the watch).

A superb, valuable watch from one of history's most famous names; full of charm and elegance. Will provide an excellent financial investment as well as a possession to enjoy.

You can feel confident buying from us - We offer a full refund if you are not entirely happy with your purchase. We also provide a full receipt, six months guarantee (long enough for you to assess the working order) and professional insurance valuation (We are approved to provide insurance valuations for high wrist and pocket watches). We also welcome you to come and view the watch at our central London address, in New Bond Street - by appointment only. We offer our customers online prices - below value - with offline availability and service.