Cartier Follows Its Inner Drive

Instinct, independence, elegance, these are the qualities of the Drive man; an attitude and a mindset that are not just about existing, but about knowing how to live.

This is a man who cannot be categorized, who seems natural on first impressions, but is more sophisticated than he initially appears. His true talent is an aptitude for style and freedom.

The Drive is offered in
steel or rose gold.

He appreciates the good things in life for himself and the pleasure they bring him. His watch is worn as a reflection of the man, rather than for status, the same applies to his passions, which he steers, as he would his car, appreciating the beauty of the skills involved.

People say he’s a connoisseur, sensitive to the precision of a fold, an exact shade of patina or a meticulously turned cuff or lapel. These are the details that make the difference for him.

Was it the balance between the dimensions of the case and the taut linear design that initially caught his eye in the Drive de Cartier watch? Certainly the mark of this stylish timepiece’s character is cultivated in its cushion-shaped case. The Drive de Cartier watch is the watch of a man of passion and continues the long-standing tradition of Cartier watches with distinctive shapes.

The guilloche dial includes Cartier’s
signature Roman numerals.

Over and above a strongly defined character, the aesthetic emphasis of the Drive de Cartier watch changes with each different model. Its case, in rose gold or steel, is fitted with a black, grey or white guillochè dial marked by Roman numerals punctuated with sword-shaped hands.

The transparent caseback reveals the manufacture movement 1904 MC, available in two versions: hours, minutes, small seconds and date for the 1904-PS MC; and second time zone, day/night indicator, large date and small seconds for the 1904-FU MC.

The Drive de Cartier watch is also available in a Fine Watchmaking version, with a flying tourbillon 9452 MC, certified “Poináon de Genëve.”

With the patterning of the guillochè dial resembling the design of a radiator grill, the domed crystal, counter at 6 o’clock and the winding crown shaped like a bolt, the automobile is an indisputable presence. This is an allusion that Cartier has diverted and enhanced, reinterpreting the distinction of its streamlined forms.

All of the Drive movements
are made in-house.

The finishes seem designed to meet the exacting standards of the connoisseur: textured satin at the sides with polished surfaces for the top and bottom. The former is intended to magnify the volume, the latter to hone it.

Three calibers power the Drive de Cartier watch: the 1904-PS MC, the 1904-FU MC for the small complication, and the 9452 MC for the Fine Watchmaking version. All three are produced at the Cartier Manufacture.

The caliber 1904 MC, created in 2010, was among the first movements conceived, developed and assembled by the Cartier Manufacture. The care lavished on caliber 1904 MC, with refined finishes such as the Cùtes de Genëve decoration on the bridges and the oscillating weight, or the polished screw-heads, attests to the high standards of quality to which Cartier holds its movements. This caliber has been designed to maintain perfect chronometric stability, harnessing a double barrel system to ensure consistency of the mainspring torque over a long period. Fitted with a fine regulating system, the caliber was conceived for the manufacture to perfectly adjust its chronometry and guarantee that it runs with great precision.

The Drive de Cartier Flying Tourbillon

The caliber 1904-FU MC, created in 2014, combines a retrograde second time zone display, a day/night indicator, a large date and small seconds, with the complications coordinated directly by the crown. This movement equips the small complication model of the Drive de Cartier watch.

Finally, the Drive de Cartier Flying Tourbillon watch, a Fine Watchmaking timepiece fitted with the mechanical movement with manual winding, calibre 9452 MC. Certified “Poináon de Genëve”, this watch is assembled and set in the Cartier Fine Watchmaking “Poináon de Genëve” workshops, situated on the first floor of the Cartier Boutique at 35, Rue du Rhùne in the heart of Geneva.

What has been achieved here is a watch created in accordance with the most prestigious of all watchmaking certifications, testifying to Cartier’s excellence in fine watchmaking.