Over and above a strongly defined character, the aesthetic emphasis of the Drive de Cartier watch changes with each different model. Its case, in pink gold or steel, is fitted with a black, grey or white guilloché dial marked by Roman numerals punctuated with sword-shaped hands.
The transparent case-back reveals the Manufacture movement 1904 MC, available in two versions: hours, minutes, small seconds and date for the 1904-PS MC; and second time zone, day/night indicator, large date and small seconds for the 1904-FU MC.
The Drive de Cartier watch is also available in a Fine Watchmaking version, with a flying tourbillon 9452 MC, certified “Poinçon de Genève”.
With the patterning of the guilloché dial resembling the design of a radiator grill, the domed crystal, counter at 6 o’clock and the winding crown shaped like a bolt, the motor car is an indisputable presence. This is an allusion that Cartier has diverted and enhanced, reinterpreting the distinction of its streamlined forms.
The finishes seem designed to meet the exacting standards of the connoisseur: textured satin at the sides with polished surfaces for the top.
Three calibres power the Drive de Cartier watch: the 1904-PS MC, the 1904-FU MC for the small complication, and the 9452 MC for the Fine Watchmaking version. All three are produced at the Cartier Manufacture.
The calibre 1904 MC, created in 2010, was among the first movements conceived, developed and assembled by the Cartier Manufacture. The care lavished on calibre 1904 MC, with refined finishes such as the Côtes de Genève decoration on the bridges and the oscillating weight, or the polished screw-heads, attests to the high standards of quality to which Cartier holds its movements. This 11 ½ line calibre has been designed to maintain perfect chronometric stability, harnessing a double barrel system to ensure consistency of the mainspring torque over a long period. Fitted with a fine regulating system, the calibre was conceived for the Manufacture to perfectly adjust its chronometry and guarantee that it runs with great precision.
The calibre 1904-FU MC, created in 2014, combines a retrograde second time zone display, a day/night indicator, a large date and small seconds, with the complications coordinated directly by the crown. This movement equips the small complication model of the Drive de Cartier watch.
Finally, the Drive de Cartier Flying Tourbillon watch, a Fine Watchmaking timepiece fitted with the mechanical movement with manual winding, calibre 9452 MC. Certified “Poinçon de Genève”, this watch is assembled and set in the Cartier Fine Watchmaking “Poinçon de Genève” workshops, situated on the first floor of the Cartier Boutique at 35, Rue du Rhône in the heart of Geneva. What has been achieved here is a watch created in accordance with the most prestigious of all watchmaking certifications, testifying to Cartier’s excellence in Fine Watchmaking.
