Pre SIHH 2018 Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night

Pre SIHH 2018 Cartier Preview

In the lead up to SIHH 2018, which will take place in Geneva, Switzerland in just under two months from now, Cartier has released a preview of what it will be presenting during the show. Cartier is one of the leading watch brands in the world, so it’s always exciting to see what the brand will unveil. Will we be treated to another icon like the Cartier Tank or the Cartier Ballon Bleu? Will Cartier continue to furnish more of their watches with in-house movements?

While we’ll have to wait a while until the official opening of SIHH, we’ll enjoy a sneak peek into the Pre SIHH 2018 Cartier offerings.

Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night

The Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night takes inspiration from the Mystery Clocks that Cartier was famous for creating in the early 1900s. The “mystery” stems from the fact that these clocks gave the impression that their hands floated on the dial as they were affixed to a clear disk and the inner mechanics were kept out of sight. Apart from paying homage to those puzzling timepieces, this watch’s idiosyncratic day/night indicator also draws from Cartier’s famed Comet Clock of 1912.

Combining the “mystery” design with a dial divided in half to feature a day/night complication on the top half and a retrograde minutes display on the bottom, the Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night has a particularly unique look. During the day, the dial’s top half will feature a sun that will make its way from left to right, indicating the hour via a 12-hour Roman numerals scale that reads from six to six. Once the sun sets, a moon will appear transforming the complication for night time.

This transparent half is sharply contrasted with the bottom part of the dial, which features a beautiful radiating guilloché pattern and a minute hand in a bold blued steel. Tying the watch face’s overall design together is a brown sunburst-finished outer ring upon which the dial’s numerals sit. Additionally, the dial’s pop of blue is carried on to the crown as the Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night also comes with the brand’s signature blue sapphire cabochon-capped crown — a feature sure to delight avid Cartier fans.

Manufacture Caliber 9982 MC

Visible via a sapphire crystal caseback, Cartier’s hand-wound Manufacture Caliber 9982 MC powers the Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night. Composed of 174 components including 26 jewels, this movement beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. The manual movement offers the wearer a power reserve of 48 hours, in addition to hour, retrograde minute, and day/night indication functionality. Cartier is clearly continuing on its path of building in-house movements.

Available in an 18k pink gold or white gold case and fitted with a deep brown alligator leather strap, the watch is sized at 40 mm in diameter. While the watch is water-resistant to 30 meters, we doubt this water will ever have to prove that.

Expected to hit the market in the first quarter of next year, the Cartier Rotonde de Cartier Mysterious Day & Night will retail for around $63,000. This substantial amount, however, will be unlikely to deter the collectors of the Swiss Made watches of this iconic French brand.