Cartier Tank W1529856

The dated evidence for W1529856 is papers rather than production records, and it is consistent on case, dial and movement. A retailer gives one example an age of 2010; receipts and warranty cards dated 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019 accompany others; a Geneva Auctions lot in April 2026 describes the same 30 × 22 mm gold quartz watch with blued hands and black Roman numerals. When the W1529856 code was first assigned is not documented. Seller-entered years as early as 2001 appear on marketplace aggregates, and a 1979-dated auction record sometimes attached to this reference carries no reference number at all, so neither is evidence for it.

The order of the numbers has to be inferred. What is documented is that Archiva lists the small quartz yellow-gold Tank Louis as ref. 2442 in an era group headed 1993 to 2001, a grouping rather than a production span, and that 2442 opens the caseback serial on at least one listed W1529856. The earliest W1529856 papers found date from 2013. Together that suggests W1529856 is a later catalogue code for a model already numbered 2442, rather than a new design; the reason for the code and its date are not documented, so the reading remains an inference.

The reported 2024 change fits the same pattern, though it rests on one dealer and no Cartier confirmation was found; listings dated 2025 and 2026 may be old stock or misdated. Taken together, the record shows a Tank whose numbers changed faster than its shape. An authorised retailer's description ties the design to the Tank LC of 1921; the numbering attached to it has shifted more than once since, and no documented change to the case, dial or movement went with it.

Two references bracket W1529856 by size and construction: 2441, the larger quartz gold Tank Louis from the same Archiva era group, and the Tank Solo W5200004, a bigger, more contemporary quartz Tank in gold with a steel back.

With no variants to chase, a W1529856 is judged on condition, completeness and originality. Dealer asking prices around 2026 have run from about $8,700 for a visibly worn example to about $12,500 for unworn full sets; these are asking prices, not realised sales, and a claimed early or special run has no documented basis. The top of that range is the price of a new one: an authorised retailer lists the same W1529856 at $12,400. Anyone shopping for this watch is choosing between that counter and a used example, and a used W1529856 earns its place only by being nearly as good as new or clearly cheaper.