VINTAGE CARTIER CODEX

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« I love this watch. It's got a few names - an asymmetric Tank, a lozenge - but my grandfather, Jean-Jacques Cartier, always called it the driving watch. So nick-named because when you're driving along, hands on the steering wheel, your wrist is at more of a 45 degree angle than the normal 90 degree angle that it usually is when looking at your watch to tell the time. The angled-face of this watch was designed to counteract that hands-on-steering-wheel-angle meaning that even at fast speeds, roof down, wind in hair, girl beside you... you could glance at your Cartier driving watch and the 12 would be pointing reassuringly upwards. My grandfather only made a few of these watches when he was still running Cartier London. They were produced in the Cartier-run Wright & Davies workshop in East London by exceptional craftsmen. The head of the workshop was a stickler for quality - if a piece wasn't absolutely 100% perfect it was sent back, melted down and made again. Of course, nowadays this style of watch isn't quite so unusual but those original ones are pretty hard to find these days. And I think, pretty hard to beat. They're that holy grail of innovative design and timelessness. In fact, they were one of Jean-Jacques’ favourite designs as well - he always loved objects that married function and form. »

Francesca Cartier Brickell

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