Cartier Tank Louis Ladies

Louis Cartier designed the Tank in 1917. An Icon was born. The Cartier Tank Louis Cartier, or the LC Tank as collectors and connoisseurs like to refer to it. With its smoother and rounder lines,  it followed the Tank Normale in 1919, and it was the second Tank that Cartier ever launched. It became the jewel in the crown of the entire watch collection of Cartier. So the Tank turned 100 last year. The first prototype was presented as a gift to the American general Pershing, a few years before the watch was put on the market in 1919. The design is inspired by the caterpillars of tanks.

Characteristic of the Tank is that the band starters of this watch are fully integrated in the housing, with the watch band seamlessly merging into the band starters. The design of the rectangular watch and the sleek design make this watch very popular with the unconventional customers. The Tank has certainly retained its distinctive identity over the years.

Nowadays very complicated watches are built with triple tourbillions or triple chronographs. The Tank on the other hand is not a very complicated watch. Its powers lies in its simplicity . While the Tank Louis Cartier with its mechanical or quartz time only caliber, is just a very straight forward, good looking watch. Exclusively build in precious metals and always set with a sapphire in the crown, the Tank Louis Cartier is a statement, like no other watch in the collection is. It is not only recognized by the Kings and Queens but also artists like Andy Warhol, Clarke Gable and Duke Ellington were often spotted with a Tank watch.  It is also often the watch of choice by those people who prefer to have only one watch in their lives, they wear the Tank Louis Cartier day in and day out and see their Tank as part of their personality. The Tank Louis Cartier is often seen amongst industry leaders, fashion designers and in general, among people that like to dress stylish and have a certain taste for timeless objects. 

In 1973 Cartier relaunched the Tank with ultra flat, Tank LC and Tank Normale versions now available as regular production pieces. And riding on the popularity of the Must de Cartier range, the Tank LC was soon seen on the wrists of everyone from Jackie Kennedy, Mohammed Ali, to Andy Warhol.

What sets this watch apart? This is a late 1970s Cartier Louis Tank small sold in 1980. Look at the beautiful dial! It has a 18k Yellow Gold case with stunning Roman numeral dial with Cartier Paris' signature and  sword shaped blue steel hands. Many of Cartier’s early 20th-century watches had the word “PARIS” inscribed underneath the brand name, which gave the dial something extra that became much-sought after by collectors. It features the very slim Cartier Movement: Cartier ETA 2512-1, a really nice mechanical hand wound movement. The Tank comes with  polished tank case, its case back affixed with four screws and also 4 screws that hold a genuine Cartier black crocodile strap, signed Cartier, with signed solid 18k gold Cartier buckle. The Tank Louis has a18K yellow gold round, refined beaded crown set with a faceted cabochon. This classic dress watch is in overall excellent and, I believe, unpolished original condition.

This particular Cartier Tank has just undergone a full service. This work was carried out by our watchmaker using original parts.

As with all of our pre-owned watches this watch comes with a full 12 month WRIST ICONS warranty that will be invoked from the day of purchase. Please check our website to have a look at the high resolution pictures on a macro level. You will see every detail at its best.

Brand: Cartier

Model: Tank Louis Ladies

Year: late 1970’s.

Case: 18 carat yellow golden case secured by 4 screws. 27,9 mm x 20,5 mm, thickness: 5,4 mm

Inscriptions case back: Cartier Paris 7808773xx

Dial: classic early silvered and finely grained original dial signed Cartier with black roman numerals and blued steel hands and signed SWISS.

Movement: powered by 17 jewel manual wind Cartier ETA 2512-1 movement with Cartier cabochon sapphire crown.

Strap: offered with genuine leather strap and tang buckle.