Cartier Is Going All in on Its OG Watch in 2024

“I’ve been calling the Cartier Santos the ‘It boy watch’ for the past two years, simply because so many guys in my social circle have recently gotten one,” Dimepiece’s Brynn Wallner tells me, as we chew the fat over Cartier’s latest novelties at a pre-Watches and Wonders preview. “It’s certainly a unisex watch,” she adds, “but it makes sense that men would specifically gravitate toward the Santos, because it was the first ever wristwatch created. Even in its more fluid and proportionate vintage iterations, it’s a decidedly more traditionally masculine watch than some of the other Cartier offerings, i.e. the bracelet-like Panthère, or even the Tank, which can feel dainty in spite of its name.”

Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s style and heritage director, agrees. “The Santos has that masculine feel immediately,” he tells me. “If we go to the first period of its creation, it’s one of the few models that was in majority, sold to men, whereas, say, the Tank at the beginning was equally sent to men and women. There was not an idea of constraining men to wear specific models or women to wear other specific models, so we can only guess that that type of shape conveyed a more masculine flair or something like that. Probably, it’s linked to the very open case or dial, and the square shape.”

When it comes to the Cartier Santos, we’re talking visible hardware, a sturdy steel or precious metal bracelet, and the squarest of chunky square dials. It’s a watch the likes of Micheal Ward, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Cruise, and Jake Gyllenhaal have been known to wear, because it matches their built physiques while still providing something sexy that draws the right kind of attention to their wrists. And one look at the latest 2024 references will have the It boys giddy with excitement.

A brand new Santos de Cartier Dual Time is the stand out talking point—an all-steel, gray-dialed affair that tells the time twice at the same time, like never before. A quick history refresher reminds you that the Santos was named after a handsome fella called Alberto Santos-Dumont. Described as “a free-spirited pioneer,” in 1904 he became the first person to fly a plane of sorts while wearing a pilot’s watch.

“I like the idea that the model is desirable just for the sake of its design and its quality. And that the history just comes on top,” says Rainero about this new Dual Time. It is a sleeker way of tracking two time zones than your average GMT, with the counter at 6 o’clock elegantly showing a second, adjustable time depending on where you’re heading. Shout out to the seven-sided chunky steel crown, which couldn’t be more masculine if it tried.

“I’m reluctant to gender watches based on societal norms, but these latest references feel intentionally skewed toward the dude side of the spectrum,” adds Wallner. “They counter the ultra-femme, whimsical Baignoire bangle that stole our hearts last year, which got men acquiring older Baignoire models in droves.”