Cartier built upon its long tradition of elegantly shaped watches in 2016 with the introduction of an entirely new men’s collection, called Drive de Cartier. This year the watch-and-jewelry maison expands the series with new variations whose cushion-shaped cases feature a slimmer profile for an even more understated look: the Cartier Drive de Cartier Extra-Flat.
Cartier Drive de Cartier Extra-Flat in yellow gold
The watch includes all the design codes of the original Drive de Cartier models, many of which trace their origins back to other iconic Cartier models like the Tank and Santos, including Roman numeral hour markers, a railroad minute track, blued, sword-shaped hour and minute hands, highly defined (i.e., non-round) case proportions, and an octagonal crown set with a blue sapphire cabochon. In 2017, Cartier introduced the first Extra-Flat models in the Drive collection, in white gold and rose gold. The 2018 models, both with silvered dials, add two additional case materials: stainless steel and yellow gold, the latter of which appears to be making a quiet comeback in the luxury watch world. The case dimensions are 38 x 39 mm, similar to those of the first Drive de Cartier models, but the thickness is a modest 6.6 mm, reduced from its predecessors’ 11.25 mm height by 40 percent. Cartier Drive de Cartier Extra-Flat in stainless steel
Inside the case is a manual-winding movement, Cartier’s Caliber 430 MC, which uses a Piaget movement, Caliber 430P, as i...