Louis Cartier
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| Louis Francois Cartier | |
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| Born | 1875 Paris, France |
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| Died | 1942 |
| Profession | Businessman |
The most important steps in Cartier's family business were made by several generations: Louis Francois Cartier, his son Alfred Cartier and three grandsons - Pierre, Jacque and Louis Francois. Louis Cartier (1875-1942), the son of Alfred Cartier, was passionate about mechanical pocket watches and had the goal of creating Cartier's own line of timepieces. Although Patek Phillipe created the first wristwatch in 1868, Louis Cartier is responsible for helping to popularize it over the traditional pocket watch.
In 1904 his friend, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who was an aviator, asked Cartier to design a watch that could be useful during flights. Since pocket watches were not suitable Louis Cartier created "Santos" wristwatch, which was also the first wristwatch made for men. However, "Santos" went into sale only in 1911. This is how Cartier established its first production of wristwatches. In Rue de la Paix he designed timepieces with the help of Edmond Jaeger who agreed to supply Cartier's watch line with movements.
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[edit] Business Expansion
When Alfred Cartier, the son of a goldsmith started managing the production of jewelry his three sons, Pierre, Jacque and Louis Francois Cartier were the ones to help the family business expand. They eventually turned Cartier brand into the most known name in the world of jewelry and watchmaking.
Louis Francois, who had the same name as his grandfather, joined the family business in 1899. His abilities as a businessman later helped in making Cartier a famous brand worldwide. The expansion continued with the opening of Cartier London store in 1902 and New York store in 1909.
In 1910 Cartier family business opened two new stores in Moscow and Persian Gulf. But the success of the New York store helped Cartier in receiving world recognition. Between the two World Wars, Cartier was able to open stores in Cannes and Monte Carlo. Later the expansion continued with the opening of new shops in Hong Kong, Munich and Geneva.
In 1912 Cartier introduced the Baignoire and Tortue which are two models still in production today. Then, 1917 followed the debut of the Tank.
It was also during this period that Cartier began adding its own reference numbers to the watches it sold, usually by stamping a four-digit code on the underside of a lug. In fact, many collectors refuse to accept a Cartier as original unless these numbers are present.
Louis Cartier passed away in 1942. In 1945 his brother Pierre took over the family business and became the president of Cartier International. Later Cartier International turned into a huge multinational organization. In 1972 its president was named Robert Hocq. He took over the branches of Cartier in London and New York and re-established the prestige of Cartier. Today Cartier watches have the movements of such famous Swiss watchmaking companies like: Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Movado and Le Coultre.
[edit] Cartier watch models
Throughout its history the company designed such models like: Tonneau in 1906, Tortue in 1912 and Tank in 1910. After the death of Louis Francois and change in the management of the company, Cartier went on by producing Baignoire in 1957, Panthère in 1983, Pasha de Cartier in 1985 as well as Tank Française in 1996 and Cartier's Privée Collection. Today the company creates watches with some classical Cartier designs. Among the most famous revived classical watches there are Roadster, Santos 100 and Pasha.
