‘Time Traveller

The Cartier Tank has maintained its prime position as the last word in elegant, iconic timepieces through each of its iterations and every era, says MEGHA KAPOOR

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WHEN LOUIS CARTIER designed the Tank watch in 1917, Europe was at war. It is said images of the newly introduced Renault tanks on the Western Front inspired the spare lines and proportions of the timepiece. Form and function were balanced with inspired creativity, resulting in the pared-back elegance of a shape somewhere between a square and a rectangle—a radical departure from the ornate rounded shapes of the watch’s contemporaries.