| Brand: | Cartier |
| Model: | Tank Louis |
| Reference: | 78086 |
| Gender: | Uni-sex |
| Year: | 1973-early 1980s |
| Material: | 18kt yellow gold |
| Dial Color: | Creme white |
| Dimensions: | 30mm x 23 mm |
| Watch Movement: | manual |
| Bracelet/Strap: | leather strap with 18kt yellow gold deployment buckle |
| Box/Paper: | Cartier box and recent Cartier service papers |
| Condition: | Excellent |
WRISTICONS brings you the classic Cartier Tank Louis with a Paris signed dial in the big vintage size just serviced at Cartier with a really beautiful Cartier leather strap and golden folding buckle.
What sets this watch apart? This is a late 1970s early 1980s Cartier Louis Tank. The case was made by Guillod Gunther and the watch was assembled by Ebel. 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. It features the very slim Cartier Movement: Cartier 78-1, a really nice mechanical hand wound movement.
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.
This particular Cartier Tank has just undergone a full service at Richemont/Cartier. The Tank comes with polished tank case, its case back affixed with four screws and also 4 screws that hold a genuine slightly used Cartier blue 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 original condition.
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.