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Found a little Cartier Tank, but is it?

padders
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@themattedial

Well it seems I need to recant my earlier skepticism. I have asked my pal who is a expert on Cartier and he has stated that looks genuine. The case is likely gold plated brass, and was a precursor to the Must range which went over to gold plated silver. The Beryllium bronze balance on the movement suggests it is a higher grade movement than some and is a good indication it’s legit. It’s not massively valuable and from an era when there were some pretty ordinary Cartier products but genuine. That said, the dial on this looks damaged and the case being thinly plated will be susceptible to brassing so I don’t think it is the best example of the breed. He did remark that selling these on is very difficult because people assume they are fake!
 
Mark020
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redpcar redpcar
Put me down for "real".
Me too. Not the best period for Cartier
 
themattedial
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padders padders
@themattedial

Well it seems I need to recant my earlier skepticism. I have asked my pal who is a expert on Cartier and he has stated that looks genuine. The case is likely gold plated brass, and was a precursor to the Must range which went over to gold plated silver. The Beryllium bronze balance on the movement suggests it is a higher grade movement than some and is a good indication it’s legit. It’s not massively valuable and from an era when there were some pretty ordinary Cartier products but genuine. That said, the dial on this looks damaged and the case being thinly plated will be susceptible to brassing so I don’t think it is the best example of the breed. He did remark that selling these on is very difficult because people assume they are fake!

Wow case closed. I really appreciate your help! As another member alluded to, funny we are talking about how bad the originals are in this case 😀

I'll have a new main spring installed and it can be a beater for my lady.
 
A
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rcs914 rcs914
Not an expert, but I'm about 99.99999999% sure that's a fake.

ActuallyI am confident it is a genuine Cartier- I have seen this model a lot. The movement, case, and dial all look correct. They made plenty of plated watches in the 70's and 80's. Best part is its easily serviced with an ETA movement
 
Dms5150
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Concur with this being real. Cartier in the 1960's wasn't even a single company, with New York, Paris and London operating independently. Apparently the first gold plated models were made out of New York (not with a silver base) when they were still seperate businesses. When investors bought the Paris office and it all became one company again they released the "must de" line, but even some of those were made by different companies under license, which explains the huge variation in quality. Seen many 18k gold Cartiers from the 70's without the numeral leg detail so I'm not sure this is an indicator of authenticity at least for the 70's.
Edited:
 
F
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themattedial themattedial
Hi everyone.

I recently acquired this electroplated watch on the cheap and wondering if it's possibly a legit Cartier. The other tanks I've seen have a series of screws on the sides of the case, but I'm not sure how old this is or what to look for on these little guys. I'm also used to seeing the serial number on the outside caseback. Would appreciate any knowledge or opinion on this. Thanks everyone.

Best

M

20190621_095928.jpg 20190621_100404.jpg 20190621_095946.jpg 20190621_095859.jpg 20190621_100353.jpg 20190621_100417.jpg
I've NEVER seen any Cartier watch, and I own many, that didn't have SWISS MADE at the bottom of the face plate! Your watch from what I can see only says SWISS, NOT SWISS MADE. Therefore I have to say it's NOT A GENUINE CARTIER.
 
rkman11
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F Frontierjohn8
I've NEVER seen any Cartier watch, and I own many, that didn't have SWISS MADE at the bottom of the face plate! Your watch from what I can see only says SWISS, NOT SWISS MADE. Therefore I have to say it's NOT A GENUINE CARTIER.

Sorry, that’s incorrect. Many vintage Cartier Tanks have only SWISS written on the dial. Some have nothing written (see Andy Warhol’s) some have PARIS written (see Jackie Kennedy’s) and many have SWISS written (see Google)
 
Dms5150
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Hi there, yep agree with rkman11. I have the Cartier Tank book by Franco Cologni, and it lays out some of the variations. Variants at the bottom of the face include PARIS and SWISS. Also most Tanks made by London Cartier have no marking at all at the bottom of the face, but sometimes may say LONDON. SWISS MADE only started to be used in the late 80's early 90's. There was a run of cheaper Gold-plated tanks that where released over brass (not silver) before the Must De line came in, so this could be one of those.
 
janice&fred
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F Frontierjohn8
I've NEVER seen any Cartier watch, and I own many, that didn't have SWISS MADE at the bottom of the face plate! Your watch from what I can see only says SWISS, NOT SWISS MADE. Therefore I have to say it's NOT A GENUINE CARTIER.

as a previous member recalled, these lower grade plated tanks were coming out of Cartier NYC back in the '70's. I seen lots of them. it's the real deal.
 
rkman11
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F Frontierjohn8
I've NEVER seen any Cartier watch, and I own many, that didn't have SWISS MADE at the bottom of the face plate! Your watch from what I can see only says SWISS, NOT SWISS MADE. Therefore I have to say it's NOT A GENUINE CARTIER.

Also, did you really just sign up and decide your first post - your very first post - instead of an introduction, instead of information about you and your collection, instead of pictures of your watches, should really be this caps-laden, aggressive bit of mistruth?
 
themattedial
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If the community opinion wasn’t enough... I did bring this piece to a Cartier boutique. They also confirmed it was an authentic piece. Without a doubt it was in rough shape. Badly peeling dial, overwound movement with a broken mainspring, etc. all the things you would expect why buying something like this for a few bucks.

Since it was in such bad shape, I opted to have them restore the watch - something I’ve never done with a vintage watch for obvious reasons, but I thought there wasn’t much to lose in this case.

What an amazing transformation. I was floored. They replaced the dial with a enamel dial and added blued steel hands. The movement was overhauled and it feels like a brand new piece.

Here it is:

1E1D7917-EB9C-4BDC-A880-A95F6E2C1FCA.jpeg



Oh, and now the dial says “Paris”
 
Evitzee
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themattedial themattedial
If the community opinion wasn’t enough... I did bring this piece to a Cartier boutique. They also confirmed it was an authentic piece. Without a doubt it was in rough shape. Badly peeling dial, overwound movement with a broken mainspring, etc. all the things you would expect why buying something like this for a few bucks.

Since it was in such bad shape, I opted to have them restore the watch - something I’ve never done with a vintage watch for obvious reasons, but I thought there wasn’t much to lose in this case.

What an amazing transformation. I was floored. They replaced the dial with a enamel dial and added blued steel hands. The movement was overhauled and it feels like a brand new piece.

Here it is:

1E1D7917-EB9C-4BDC-A880-A95F6E2C1FCA.jpeg



Oh, and now the dial says “Paris”
Looks great, but what did that restoration cost?
 
themattedial
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I *think* it was about 750 or so. I’m pretty happy about it and my wife loves the piece.
 
Evitzee
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themattedial themattedial
I *think* it was about 750 or so. I’m pretty happy about it and my wife loves the piece.
If the wife loves it......that's all that matters.
 
Dr.K
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rcs914 rcs914
The finishing just looks really off. Compare it to the back of this one:

Qz5ALIpB.5m.2OKx0wSSxA.jpg
I was thinking the same! That C in the original post looks fishy. Odd placement too!
 
themattedial
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Dr.K Dr.K
I was thinking the same! That C in the original post looks fishy. Odd placement too!

As fishy as it *might* look - the watch was authenticated and serviced by Cartier months ago, so this is moot. It just serves as another example of a valid variation we can look for.
 
florian0079
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Excellent result!

Do wonder though, have been told last year by Cartier London that they don't offer re-plating anymore. (was looking to get my Must de tank redone)
Could you provide more info about the process of getting it refurbished?
 
themattedial
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Thanks! Cartier did not touch the case at all — they replaced the glass, dial, hands, crown, and overhauled the movement. I didn’t inquire about re-plating, so I’m not sure if Cartier is still offering that service in the US.
 
Litempo
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redpcar redpcar
Put me down for "real".
LEGIT. I gave one of this to my wife.
Had to change that exactly same dial, for the must de Cartier, because the original,pocelanized I think, was in bad condition.
 
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