Cartier Tank

A Must de Cartier Tank in gilded case on a black strap, with the blue cabochon crown. Louis Cartier designed the Tank in 1917, and the first ones went on sale in 1919. The usual story is that he took the shape from Allied tanks seen from above; accounts disagree on which tanks, and the link rests mostly on tradition. Whatever the inspiration, the construction is the point. The two vertical bars on either side, called brancards, run past the dial and become the lugs, so the case and strap read as one clean rectangle. Nearly every rectangular dress watch since owes something to that move.