The Cartier Chronicles

What started a long time ago, in the year 1847, has today become a living heritage.

Yes, Cartier is that immortal glimmer that you see on the horizon. Beyond all the fleeting trends of fashion, the Maison forges precious ties that transcend time and trousseau. We caught up with Laurent Gaborit, the regional marketing manager—Cartier Middle East, Africa and India, who shares a 13-and-ahalf-year-old relationship with the brand, at the recently held Cartier ‘Travel with Style’ Concours d’Elegance. He traced for us the journey that Cartier embarked upon and spoke about some of the most sought-after pieces of jewellery and watchmaking from ‘the king of jewellers and the jewellers of kings’. Excerpts from our conversation:

L’Officiel India DigitalRead L’Officiel India in the digital libraryEvery issue and every cover story, on TCG Media.Read now

The Cartier experience

I have been lucky enough to have worked in different markets, to have organised great events and to have met incredible people through my time at Cartier. I have been working with the Cartier headquarters in Taiwan, Korea, Greece, Italy, the Middle East, Africa and India, and the whole experience has been one cultural phenomenon!

Cartier heritage

Cartier comes with 170 years of history and royal ties. The Maison has been around since 1847, and has a strong history with the English royalty, the Russians and, of course, with Indians. The Cartier tiara that Kate Middleton wore for her wedding to Prince William was purchased by his great-grandfather and loaned by Queen Elizabeth II to the Duchess.

Cartier craftsmanship

You will always find an artist who is designing something new at Cartier. The founders of Cartier were all artists as well as merchants, and were as daring as can be! So, when you see a Cartier jewellery piece, or a Cartier watch, you will notice the audacity of the craftsmen in terms of creativity. That is signature Cartier craftsmanship for you! All the pieces of Cartier jewellery are handcrafted. It takes years for someone to be capable of crafting a piece of high jewellery for Cartier. In our Parisian Lapier Boutique, we have an in-house expert on high jewellery, available to assist our clients. Our Metiers D’Art collection, is a set of special watches, which are manufactured using techniques that date back to the time before the coming of Christ!

Cartier icon

There was a lady named Jeanne Toussaint, who was very close to the Cartier family, and she was nicknamed, the Panther for her strong personality. The Panther brooch, which was created in the 1930s, became a tremendous success. Thereafter, the Panther remained a timeless icon and a symbol associated with Cartier.

Cartier favourites

While I own a lot of Cartier watches, I personally love the Tank Americaine watch for men. It is one of the most elegant watches by Cartier. I don’t own it, but I do love it. For women, I think the Tutti-Fruity necklaces are absolutely beautiful.

What to look forward to

• Our latest collection of high jewellery, titled Royal, which was recently unveiled in Dubai, is important to Cartier. • The Cle de Cartier collection of watches was unveiled at SIHH 2015. • The Paris Nouvelle Vague jewellery watch, the Amulette which is a multicoloured piece of jewellery, inspired from the same word which means something that brings you luck.

So that should be a popular collection among our Indian clients. • New variants in our fine jewellery collections – Love and Juste Un Clou.

From the June 2015 issue of L’Officiel India.