Cartier Libre Hypnose

Cartier’s ovular shapes have injected creativity, playfulness, and elegance to the dress watch vertical since the early days of the 20th century. The Baignoire (“bathtub”), notable for its elongated, sumptuous precious-metal case and distended ‘Roman’-numeral dial, has recently made a comeback, attracting die-hard collectors as well as celebrities. It seems that everywhere one turns, another compelling, elongated Cartier dress watch is calling one’s name.

The Hypnose is yet another such shape. But unlike the vertically-oriented Baignoire, this particular reference is rotated roughly 45 degrees to the right, making for an even more playful take on a typically elegant Cartier timepiece. Housed in a 23mm wide 18K white gold case with a diamond-set bezel and a sapphire crystal, it features a back-wound design in place of a more conventional crown, so as not to interfere with the case’s unusual shape.

The dial, meanwhile, is a work of horological art: A brushed, silver surface is split into a right-hand oval containing a blued steel ‘sword’ handset and ‘Roman’ numerals 12 through 6, while the left-hand sector contains numerals 11 through 5. Powered by a quartz movement and set by screws into a thin, taupe-colored leather strap with a white gold deployant clasp, this beautiful and unusual creation comes with its factory goodies.

The Cartier Tank will always be a classic, and the Santos will remain a historically important design for ever more. But the Hypnose, with its avant-garde shape and gorgeous dial, is the stuff that keeps Cartier at the top of the horological heap in the 21st century.