Société Cartier (; French: [ka?tje]) is a French luxury goods conglomerate company which designs, manufactures, distributes, and sells jewellery and watches.
Founded in Paris, France, in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier, the company remained under family control until 1964. The company maintains its headquarters in Paris, although it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Compagnie Financière Richemont SA in Switzerland.
Cartier is known for its jewelry and wristwatches.
Cartier has a long history of sales to royalty. For example, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been seen wearing the Cartier Ballon Bleu watch. King Edward VII of England referred to Cartier as "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers." For his coronation in 1902, Edward VII ordered 27 tiaras and issued a royal warrant to Cartier in 1904. Similar warrants soon followed from the courts of Spain, Portugal, Russia, Siam, Greece, Serbia, Belgium, Romania, Egypt, Albania, Monaco, and the House of Orleans.
Video Cartier (jeweler)
History
Family ownership
Louis-François Cartier founded Cartier in Paris in 1847 when he took over the workshop of his master. In 1874, Louis-François' son Alfred Cartier took over the company, but it was Alfred's sons Louis, Pierre and Jacques who established the brand name worldwide.
In 1904, the Brazilian pioneer aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to his friend Louis Cartier of the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while flying. Cartier designed a flat wristwatch with a distinctive square bezel. This watch was liked by not only Santos-Dumont but also many other customers. The "Santos" was Cartier's first men's wristwatch.
Louis ran the Paris branch, moving to the Rue de la Paix in 1899. He was responsible for some of the company's most celebrated designs, like the mystery clocks (a type of clock with a transparent dial and so named because its mechanism is hidden), fashionable wristwatches and exotic orientalist Art Deco designs, including the colorful "Tutti Frutti" jewels.
In 1907, Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger, who agreed to exclusively supply the movements for Cartier watches. By this time, Cartier had branches in London, New York and St. Petersburg and was quickly becoming one of the most successful watch companies in the world. The Baignoire and Tortue models (both of which are still in production today) were introduced in 1912, followed by the Tank model in 1917. Designed by Louis Cartier, this was inspired by the newly introduced tanks on the Western Front. This line too has survived, with over thirty varieties made since.
In the early 1920s, Cartier formed a joint company with Edward Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre) to produce movements solely for Cartier. Cartier continued to use movements from other makers: Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Movado and LeCoultre. It was also during this period that Cartier began adding its own reference numbers to the watches it sold, usually by stamping a four-digit code on the underside of a lug. Jacques took charge of the London operation and eventually moved to the current address at New Bond Street.
Pierre Cartier established the New York City branch in 1909, moving in 1917 to 653 Fifth Avenue, the Neo-Renaissance mansion of Morton Freeman Plant (son of railroad tycoon Henry B. Plant) and designed by architect C.P.H. Gilbert. Cartier bought it from the Plants in exchange for $100 in cash and a double-stranded natural pearl necklace valued at the time at $1 million.
Among the Cartier team was Charles Jacqueau, who joined Louis Cartier in 1909 for the rest of his life, and Jeanne Toussaint, who was Director of Fine Jewellery from 1933. After the death of Pierre in 1964, Jean-Jacques Cartier (Jacques's son), Claude Cartier (Louis's son), and Marionne Claudelle (Pierre's daughter) -- who respectively headed the Cartier affiliates in London, New York and Paris -- sold the businesses.
Post-family ownership
In 1972, a group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui bought Cartier Paris. President Robert Hocq, who created the phrase "Les Must de Cartier" (a staff member is said to have said "Cartier, It's a must!" meaning something one simply must have) with Alain Dominique Perrin, General Director, began introducing new products. In 1974 and 1976 respectively, the group repurchased Cartier London and Cartier New York. In 1979, the Cartier interests were combined, "Cartier Monde" uniting and controlling Cartier Paris, London and New York.
Cartier merged in 1981 with "Les Must de Cartier", and Perrin was appointed Chairman of Cartier SAA and Cartier International. The next year, Micheline Kanoui became head of jewellery design and launched her first collection "Nouvelle Joaillerie". In 1984, Perrin founded the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain to bring Cartier into the twenty-first century, by forming an association with living artists.
In 1986, the French Ministry for Culture appointed Perrin head of the "Mission sur le mécénat d'entreprise" (a commission to study business patronage of the arts). Two years later, Cartier gained a majority holding in Piaget and Baume & Mercier. In 1989/1990 the Musée du Petit Palais staged an exhibition of the Cartier collection, "l'Art de Cartier".
Perrin founded an international committee in 1991, Comité International de la Haute Horlogerie, to organise its first salon, held on 15 April 1991. This has become an annual meeting place in Geneva for professionals. The next year, the second exhibition of "l'Art de Cartier" was held at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. In 1993, the "Vendôme Luxury Group" was formed as an umbrella company to combine Cartier, Dunhill, Montblanc, Piaget, Baume & Mercier, Karl Lagerfeld, Chloé, Sulka, Hackett, and Seeger.
In 1994, the Cartier Foundation moved to the Rive Gauche and opened a headquarters in a building designed for it by Jean Nouvel. Following the accidental death of Robert Hocq in December of that year, his sister, Brigitte Hocq, became chairman. Joseph Kanoui became vice president of Cartier Monde. The next year, a major exhibition of the Cartier Antique Collection was held in Asia. In 1996, the Lausanne Hermitage Foundation in Switzerland exhibited "Splendours of the Jewellery", presenting a hundred and fifty years of products by Cartier.
In 2012, Cartier was owned, through Richemont, by the South African Rupert family, and Elle Pagels, a 24-year-old granddaughter of Pierre Cartier.
Maps Cartier (jeweler)
Retail stores
Cartier operates more than 200 stores in 125 countries, with three Temples (Historical Maison) worldwide:
- Paris - 13, Rue de la Paix
- London - 175-177 New Bond Street
- New York - 653 Fifth Avenue
In September 2008, Cartier opened its first flagship store in Seoul, South Korea, named Cartier Maison located in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, with its facade inspired by Korean Bojagi wrapping cloth. Helmed by Managing Director Philippe Galtie, he said at the time of opening that it was the seventh largest in the world. In 2015, Cartier opened a shop in the newly developed River Oaks District, in Houston.
Timeline
- 1904 - Cartier received its first appointment as official purveyor to King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. His consort, Queen Alexandra bought a necklace designed with Indian influence. Later that year, Cartier received another appointment as the purveyor for King Alfronso XIII of Spain.
- 1907 - Cartier held its first exhibition and sale in Saint Petersburg, at the Grand Hotel Europe. Shortly after, it was appointed as official purveyor to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
- 1918 - Creation of batons for Field-Marshals Foch and Pétain.
- 1919 - Launch of the Tank watch. Establishment, in New York, of the European Watch & Clock Co. Inc. Appointment as official purveyor to King Albert I of Belgium.
- 1921 - Appointment as official purveyor to the Prince of Wales, future King Edward VIII who, on abdicating in 1936, became the Duke of Windsor. Creation of the Tank cintrée watch.
- 1922 - Creation of the Tank Louis Cartier and Tank Chinoise watches.
- 1923 - Creation of the first portico mystery clock, crowned with a statuette called Billiken.
- 1924 - Queen Marie of Romania wears a Cartier tiara created to resemble the Russian kokoshnik for her portrait painted by Philip de László.
- 1925 - Cartier made a memorable appearance at the International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris, in the Pavillon de l'Élégance. Death of Alfred Cartier.
- 1926 - Creation of the Baguette watch. Cartier jewellery in its red box appeared on the Broadway stage in Anita Loos' play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
- 1928 - Marjorie Merriweather Post bought from Cartier in London earrings once worn by Queen Marie-Antoinette of France. Creation of the Tortue single pushpiece chronograph watch.
- 1929 - Appointment as official purveyor to King Fouad I of Egypt and participation in the Exhibition of French Arts in Cairo. Creation of the Tank à guichets watch.
- 1931 - Creation of the mystery pocket watch.
- 1932 - Creation of the Tank basculante watch.
- 1933 - Jeanne Toussaint was made head of Cartier Fine Jewellery. Cartier filed a patent for the "invisible mount", a stone-setting technique in which the metal of the mount disappears to show only the stones.
- 1935 - Cartier opened in Monte Carlo.
- 1936 - Creation of the Tank asymétrique watch.
- 1938 - Cartier opened in Cannes. One of the smallest wristwatches in the world, by Cartier, was given to Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom.
- 1939 - Appointment as official purveyor to King Zog I of Albania.
- 1942 - Creation of the "Caged Bird" brooch as a symbol of the Occupation. In 1944, Cartier created the "Freed Bird" to celebrate the Liberation of France.
- 1945 - Pierre Cartier was now the head of Cartier Paris. Claude, Louis' son, took the helm of Cartier New York while Jean-Jacques Cartier, Jacques' son, was the head of Cartier London.
- 1947 - Cartier celebrated its centennial.
- 1949 - The Duke and Duchess of Windsor bought a platinum panther brooch on a 152.35-carat (30.470 g) Kashmir cabochon sapphire in Paris. Cartier would buy the brooch for its own collection in 1987.
- 1950 - Creation of a watch in the form of a ship's wheel. The Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson appeared in Sunset Boulevard wearing the two diamond and rock crystal bracelets that she had bought from Cartier in 1930.
- 1953 - Marilyn Monroe sang "Cartier!" in the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
- 1954 - Creation for the Duchess of Windsor of a lorgnette in yellow gold, black enamel and emeralds representing a tiger.
- 1955 - Creation of Jean Cocteau's sword for his election to the Académie française, to the artist's own design.
- 1956 - For her marriage to Prince Rainier, Princess Grace received numerous gifts of jewellery by Cartier including her engagement ring, set with a 12-carat (2.4 g) emerald-cut diamond.
- 1957 - Barbara Hutton bought a tiger brooch in yellow gold, onyx and jonquil diamonds.
- 1967 - Creation of new watches in London including the Crashwatch.
- 1968 - The Mexican actress María Félix commissioned Cartier to make a diamond necklace in the form of a serpent. Cartier granted Robert Hocq a licence to create an oval lighter with a retractable wheel under the Cartier name. Creation of the Maxi Oval watch.
- 1969 - Robert Kenmore, the chairman of Cartier's parent company, acquired a 69.42-carat (13.884 g) pear-shaped diamond which it sold to Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. The Cartier Diamond was thus renamed the Taylor-Burton Diamond. Opening of Cartier in Geneva. Creation of the Love bracelet.
- 1970 - Opening of Cartier in Hong Kong.
- 1971 - Opening of Cartier in Munich.
- 1972 - Cartier Paris was taken over by a group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui.
- 1973 - Creation of Les Must de Cartier by Robert Hocq with Alain-Dominique Perrin.
- 1974 - Launch of the first leather collection in burgundy. Cartier loaned a large part of its Art Deco jewellery collection for the filming of The Great Gatsby.
- 1975 - Cartier celebrated the centenary anniversary of the birth of Louis Cartier. Opening in Monte Carlo of the first major retrospective, "Louis Cartier: Art Deco Masterpieces".
- 1976 - First collection of Les Must de Cartier vermeil watches. Retrospective in New York titled "Retrospective Louis Cartier: One Hundred and One Years of the Jeweller's Art". Creation of the first oval pen. The Cartier name appears on a "designer" edition of Ford's Lincoln Continental Mark IV for 1976, and would continue on through the 2003 model year.
- 1978 - Creation of the Santos de Cartier watch with a gold and steel bracelet. Creation of the first Cartier scarf collection.
- 1979 - Cartier Paris, Cartier London and Cartier New York were united as a single legal entity.
- 1981 - Launch of the Must de Cartier and Santos de Cartier perfumes.
- 1982 - Launch of the first New Jewellery collection on the theme of gold and stones.
- 1983 - Creation of the Collection Ancienne Cartier (later the Cartier Collection) to record and illustrate how the jeweller's art and its history have evolved. Creation of the Panthère de Cartier watch.
- 1984 - Launch of the second New Jewellery collection on the theme of gold and pearls. Creation of the Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain in Jouy-en-Josas. Cartier became partner to the International Polo Tournament in Windsor, United Kingdom.
- 1985 - Launch of the Pasha de Cartier watch.
- 1986 - Launch of the third New Jewellery collection on the theme of the panther.
- 1987 - Launch of the Panthère de Cartier perfume. Creation of Les Maisons de Cartier tableware (porcelain, crystal and silver).
- 1988 - Launch of the fourth New Jewellery collection on the theme of Egypt.
- 1989 - Launch of the Tank Américaine watch. The Art of Cartier, the first major retrospective in Paris, was held at the Petit Palais.
- 1991 - Establishment of the Comité International de la Haute Horlogerie (CIHH). The first Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) was held in Geneva.
- 1992 - "The Art of Cartier" exhibition was held at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
- 1994 - The Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain moved to the Left Bank in Paris to a building on Boulevard Raspail, the work of the architect Jean Nouvel.
- 1995 - Creation of the Pasha C watch in steel. Launch of the So Pretty de Cartier perfume. "The Art of Cartier, the World of French Jewellery Art" exhibition was held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum in Japan.
- 1996 - Creation of the Tank Française watch collection. Launch of the sixth New Jewellery collection on the theme of Creation. Creation of the Tank ring. "Cartier, Splendours of Jewellery", a retrospective exhibition, was held at the Hermitage Foundation in Lausanne, Switzerland.
- 1997 - Cartier celebrated its 150th anniversary with creations including a necklace in the form of a serpent, paved with diamonds and set with two pear-cut emeralds of 205 and 206 carats (41.2 g). The "Cartier 1900-1939" retrospective was held at the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
- 1998 - Creation of the Collection Privée Cartier Paris Fine Watch collection.
- 1999 - Creation of the Paris Nouvelle Vague Cartier jewellery collection, inspired by Paris. "The Art of Cartier, A splendor of Time" retrospective was held at the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City with guest of honour the Mexican actress María Félix. The "Cartier 1900-1939" exhibition moved to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.
- 2000 - Creation of a jewellery collection to take Cartier into the 21st century.
- 2001 - Creation of the Délices de Cartier jewellery collection. Launch of the Roadster watch. Cartier displayed the ceremonial necklace made for the Maharajah of Patiala at the 21st Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris. The intersection of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street in New York is temporarily named "Place de Cartier" to celebrate restoration and reopening of the Cartier Mansion.
- 2002 - Creation of the Tank Divan watch. The "Cartier Design viewed by Sottsass" exhibition was shown at the Vitra Design Museum in Berlin and the Palazzo Reale in Milan. It would later travel to the Daigoji Temple in Kyoto and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts.
- 2003 - Launch of the Le Baiser du Dragon and Les Délices de Goa jewellery collections. Cartier contributed to the "Jean Cocteau, Spanning the Century" exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Cartier opened a shop at 154, Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. The intersection of Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street in New York was officially named "Place de Cartier".
- 2011 - "Cartier Time Art" exhibition art-directed by Tokujin Yoshioka. It was held at Museum Bellerive in Zurich 2011, and at Art Science Museum in Singapore in 2011-2012.
List of Managing Directors
- Laurent E. Feniou - (25 March 2013 - present).
- Rupert J. Brooks - (16 December 2015 - present).
- Francois M. J. R. Le Troquer - (1 September 2010 - 28 March 2013).
- Bernard M. Fornas - (21 January 2003 - 16 December 2015).
- Guy J. Leymarie - (2 September 2002 - 28 October 2002).
- Grieg O. Catto - (2 April - present).
- Denys E. Pasche - (2 April 2002 - 17 July 2002).
- David W. Merriman - (2 April 2002 - 17 July 2002).
- Richard P. Lepeu - (1 November 2000 - 1 April 2002).
- Sophie Cagnard - (1 November 2000 - 1 April 2002).
- Gerard S. Djaoui - (12 June 1997 - 1 April 2002).
- Francois Meffre - (11 June 1993 - 28 September 2000).
- Richard N. Thornby - (11 June 1993 - 7 October 1996).
- Luigi Blank - (11 June 1993 - 1 April 2002).
- Joseph W. Allgood - (22 June 1992 - 8 April 1993).
- Arnaud M. Bamberger - (4 June 1992 - 16 December 2015).
- Mario Soares - (22 June 1991 - 5 March 2002).
- Joseph Kanoui - (22 June 1991 - 31 January 2000).
- William A. Craddock - (22 June 1991 - 31 October 1997).
- Christopher H. B. Honeyborne - (22 June 1991 - 31 October 1997).
- Pierre Haquet - (22 June 1991 - 8 April 1993).
- Phillipe Leopold-Metzger - (22 June 1991 - 4 June 1992).
Website blocking
In October 2014 the first blocking order against trademark infringing consumer goods was passed against the major UK ISPs by Richemont, Cartier International and Montblanc to block several domains selling trademark infringing products.
See also
- Fondation Cartier pour l'Art Contemporain
- Cartier Women's Initiative Awards
- Cartier Racing Awards
- Cartier Tank watch
- Cartier Love bracelet
References
Further reading
External links
- Cartier
Source of article : Wikipedia
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