Watches and Wonders: Cartier Adds Watches to Tressage Jewelry Collection and Bangles to Panthère Collection

Louis-Francois Cartier founded his namesake brand in 1847. The Parisian Maison started as a jewelry maker and wouldn’t begin producing its first watches until 1904 with the Santos pilot’s watch. And in the modern era, the brand often combines its jewelry roots with its watchmaking prowess.

Thus, it was unsurprising when, at this year’s Watches and Wonders Geneva, Cartier once again weaved its magic by unveiling the first timepieces of the brand’s Tressage jewelry family and adding two new bangle watches to the Panthère Jewelry collection.

One of the newer jewelry lines in Cartier’s expansive catalog, the Tressage collection launched just two years ago in 2023. The collection falls within the Cartier Libre line, a staple of the brand since 2002 that provides a channel for its watchmaking, jewelry, and accessories studios to dismantle iconic house motifs and reassemble them through a contemporary lens.

The first Libre jewelry watches appeared in 2017 and drew inspiration from the Baignoire. Now, we get the Tressage reimagined as a timepiece.
 

The design language of Cartier’s Tressage jewelry is marked by volume and contrast, exploring different materials and the tension between them. Moreover, while the collection is relatively new, it draws inspiration from the Maison’s history and the bold influence of Jeanne Toussaint, who became Cartier’s first female Creative Director in 1933.
 

For the Tressage collection’s inaugural lineup of timepieces, these same aesthetic codes translated into four unique styles, each offering its own interplay of metals and gem-setting within the twists surrounding the rectangular dial. Plus, the Maison incorporates yet a third material with the addition of a leather strap.
 

The resulting design creates movement across the curves of the strap, thanks to varying depths, textures, and tones, and mimics the look of a bangle while still hugging the wrist like a traditional wristwatch.

Alternatively, Cartier offers a bangle watch in its pure form with two new versions of the iconic Panthère Bangle.

Of course, the panther has been a central part of the Maison’s imagery and inspiration since the early days, with the animal’s distinct pattern first appearing in a combination of onyx and diamond on a ladies’ wristwatch in 1914.

Since then, we’ve seen countless interpretations of the animal print and even the panther itself rendered more literally in watches throughout Cartier’s catalog, resulting in the release of a dedicated collection called the Panthère in 1983.

In the latest models to join the Panthère collection, Cartier once again combines its expertise in watch and jewelry making with two stunning new bangles that wrap around the wrist to meet in the middle, with one side showcasing the trademark panther leaping toward the discreetly placed watch face on the other side.
 

Here, Cartier offers two versions. For a bolder statement, one is rendered in white gold and fully blinged out thanks to its whopping 1,100 diamonds. To enhance the lifelike quality of the panther, the Maison has chosen a classic snow setting for the stones combined with a fittingly named fur setting, which consists of folding the metal around the onyx spots to create tiny threads resembling hair.
 

For a slightly more understated look, the Maison also offers the design in yellow gold with black lacquer spots and a simple splash of sparkle in the diamond-set bezel. Both iterations get a subtle pop of color in the panther’s eyes, emerald (on the white gold model) and tsavorite (on the yellow gold version).

The new Tressage line is available in four variants: one in yellow gold and white gold set with diamond accents and a cream-colored strap, one in sleek yellow gold with a black dial and strap, one in white gold with a full diamond setting and a navy strap, and one in white gold with a combination of diamonds and sapphires with a complementary navy-blue strap.

Alongside the Tressage, both new Panthère Bangles are also available today. For more information, including pricing, visit Cartier’s website.