Cartier Watches for Sale

Cartier is read in shapes. The Tank of 1917 and the Santos of 1904 are the two families everyone meets, and the vintage question on either is the same: is the case the right proportions and the dial the right printing for the year, and has the gold been worn thin? Mechanical movements from the 1970s and earlier mark the vintage era; the quartz Tank Must and Santos of the 1980s and the Tank Française and Santos Galbée of the 1990s are the neo-vintage watches, made in large numbers and the easiest way into the brand.

Cartier made many of its shaped watches in gold-plated vermeil as well as solid gold, with the same dial and the same name, and the difference is most of the price. The caseback markings and the hallmarks say which is which; our verifier reads them in hand.

Cartier dials were repainted at service and by third parties for decades, and a reprinted dial on a Tank Louis is the most common thing that separates an honest watch from a correct one. Our verifier opens every auction lot and notes the dial printing and secret signature, the hands, the case metal and hallmarks, the crown and its cabochon, the caseback stamping and the movement. The report ships with the watch, and the listing's condition notes say the same things before you bid. The Cartier serial number guide dates a case you are considering.

Where enough recent sales exist, the table above shows a typical range beside each family, built from dealer, auction and Grey Market sales for the references on that family's page and rounded to a band. Within a family the metal sets the range: a vermeil Tank Must at one end, a solid-gold Tank Louis Cartier or a mechanical Santos Carrée at the other.

Auctions here open low and run without a reserve, so a lot's closing price is whatever the room decides that week. The sold results on this page are what Cartier has actually gone for here, before the buyer's premium.