Cartier Tortue XL 'Turtle' Limited Edition

Though Cartier has produced numerous fine mechanical watches during its 170-plus year history, by the 1990s the brand was known primarily as a producer of quartz pieces. In an effort to rejuvenate their status as a premier manufacture, in 1998 Cartier launched the Collection Privée Cartier Paris, or CPCP for short. The Collection Privée resurrected classic wristwatch designs from the Cartier archives and utilized high-grade mechanical movements from the likes of Piaget, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Girard-Perregaux.

One watch that received the “reissue” treatment was the Tortue. Conceived in 1912, the Tortue featured an entirely different silhouette than that of the more traditional Tank. While their Tank collection grew to include a number of shapes — Française, Louis, Cintrée, and Basculante, just to name a few — the Tortue stood out with its sensuous, tortoise-inspired curves that lent themselves well to many different watches, from time-only models to more involved complications. Though all iterations are excellent, we’d argue that it’s the time- only versions that paint the most elegant picture.

This particular Tortue, is actually not part of the CPCP collection, but is one of only 25 examples made with a turtle motif. The dial, with its turtle shell pattern is composed of a brilliant mix of wood marquetry, tiger eye, and coral. The case itself is engraved with enameling. These themes continue to the caseback of the timepiece, which is also adorned with a turtle shell detailing.

This beautiful limited edition is available with its full kit of factory goodies.