Cartier Santos

Santos is a collection from the jewellery house Cartier. Louis Cartier created it in 1904 for his friend, the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, who needed a wristwatch rather than a pocket watch in flight. The rounded corners of the case and the exposed screws on the bezel have remained the hallmarks of the Santos ever since. In 1911 the watch became available to the public as one of the first men's wristwatches, and in 1978 came the steel-and-gold Santos de Cartier with an integrated metal bracelet — the brand's first bracelet combining gold and steel.

Today Cartier has two Santos lines: Santos de Cartier and Santos-Dumont. In 2018 the brand relaunched Santos de Cartier with the QuickSwitch and SmartLink systems, and a year later updated the Santos-Dumont — a flatter watch whose design refers to the 1904 model.

The main choices are line, metal and case size. The collection includes stainless steel, two-tone steel and yellow gold, pink and white gold, and steel with ADLC coating, with case sizes from 26 to 46.6 mm. Besides the core models there are special editions, the earlier Santos 100 and Santos de Cartier Galbée Automatic, and the Santos Demoiselle.

Other Cartier lines include Tank, Ballon Bleu, Pasha and Panthère de Cartier.