[TWINS] Cartier Santos Carrée automatic - ref 1172961 & ref 81036188 - all original - 1987/1988

Hello and welcome! These are so nice, you get them twice! They’re both the original Cartier Santos Carrée automatic from the 1980’s. The Santos was first launched in 1978, and became an instant success, with high popularity in the 1980’s. This first gen Santos was named the Carrée. These are both from the late 1980’s, ca 1987/1988. One is all stainless steel with all original papers, the other is two-tone (steel & 18k gold) watch only. To keep things simple, let’s do one watch at a time:


TWO-TONE



This is an incredibly gorgeous stunner in superb all original condition. It’s a Cartier Santos Carrée automatic date ref 1172961, powered by an automatic Cartier cal 077 from ca 1987/1988. The serial number of this watch is slightly higher than the other one, thus this was made after the other.


The original white dial is pristine, it looks absolutely amazing, pops gorgeously, as do the blued hands, really mesmerising to look at! The steel and 18k gold case is in excellent condition as well, very crisp, with only light signs of use, and some tool marks on the back. What’s remarkable about this one is that the red paint on the back engravings is still largely intact - while it’s usually completely worn out. This indicates that the watch has been worn only sparingly, and hasn’t been polished. Both the crown and crystal are original and in excellent condition as well.


Service history unknown, but the watch works well and keeps great time. Quick-set date and hacking work perfectly as well. The watch measures 31mm width without crown, and 41mm from lug to lug. The bracelet fits up to 7-7,25” wrists. This one comes as watch only (with an extra bracelet link).

This one is in remarkable condition for a watch of its age. Most Santos you’ll find have a lot more signs of use, have been (over)polished, and aren’t nearly as clean. This one however is simply superb.

ALL STAINLESS STEEL w PAPERS

This baby is a gorgeous stunner as well, and in excellent all original condition too, even comes with all original papers! It’s a Cartier Santos Carrée automatic date ref 81036188, powered by an automatic Cartier cal 077 from 1987/1988. This watch was originally sold in Barcelona (Spain) on July 13th, 1988. It comes with the original instruction booklet, the original Cartier warranty card, and the jewellers warranty as well, all with matching numbers.

The original white dial is pristine, it pops ridiculously beautifully, as do the blued hands. Really stunning to look at, this one. The steel case is in excellent condition as well, with signs of use. The case itself is unpolished, but the bezel does look like it has been polished in the past. The caseback has a date engraved (17 september 1987) and a number. That number could be a phone number or (military) service number, not sure. You can also see a tiny hint of red paint left in the caseback markings, but not nearly as much as for the two-tone. This watch has clearly been won quite a bit more.

Service history unknown, but the watch works well and keeps great time. Quick-set date works perfectly, hacking doesn’t work (easy fix). I think this watch has never been serviced. The watch measures 31mm width without crown, and 41mm from lug to lug. The bracelet is in great condition, it’s also unpolished. It does have some stretch, and a few marks. It fits up to 7” wrists.

This comes as watch, with the original papers. It’s pretty uncommon for these babies to find them with the original papers, as these watches back in the day were just used for daily wear, and papers and boxes usually got tossed out. It’s nice to have the whole provenance leading it back to Barcelona.

CONCLUSION

Both watches are very nice examples of the original Cartier Santos. Both are unpolished (apart from the bezel). You can tell this by the paint in the back, the very crisp edges, and maybe one of the biggest tells: by the bracelet finishing; the screw dot in the bracelet are supposed to be polished mirror finish, and the links themselves should be satin finished. Usually when these watches get polished, they’ll just be brushed to the whole bracelet is satin finished (and no polished accents anymore). Both these watches however have a very nice factory finish, and that’s increasingly hard to find.

The two-tone comes from the USA, was originally bought there. The all stainless steel comes from France, and was originally bought in Spain.

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