A Precious Hybrid

Belonging To A Watch Collection That Bears The French Word For “bathtub” In Its Name, The New Cartier Baignoire Is The Jewellery Timepiece We All Want To Add To Our Arm Stack

- CAROLINE SUGANDA

If you’re a non-French speaking watch connoisseur who knows what “baignoire” means, it’s no doubt because you’re well acquainted with one of Cartier’s most distinctive watch designs. Referencing the proportions of a bathtub in its oval dial and rounded bezel, the watch was created by the French maison in the early 1900s, when Louis Cartier decided to take the traditional round watch and “stretch it out”. The design of the watch continued to evolve until the late 1950s when it settled to become the Baignoire we know today.

Several new models have been released over the years, notably in 2019 when a small model fitted with a leather strap became available, as well as the Baignoire Allongee, an extremely eye-catching version of the former, with an exaggeratedly stretched out dial and hour markers that give it a surrealist Dali-esque spin.