Timothée Chalamet Just Debuted His Sleekest Cartier Watch Yet

Timothée Chalamet, Cartier brand ambassador par excellence, has slowly been making his way through the maison’s catalog of svelte and stylish dress watches.

There was the dual-time Tank that he rocked on a red carpet back in September of 2022; the Panthère in its Mini iteration that he wore courtside last December (and the other day in Mexico City); and that stunning, diamond-studded Crash from his appearance at the Golden Globes. But all those watches, lovely as they are, are hereby ordered to move over—because the horological reckoning is upon us.

Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Getty Images

Vincent Wulveryck/Cartier

That’s right—Chalamet has worn arguably his finest Cartier yet, a beautiful Cintrée in Platinum from the Rééditions sub-collection. Released last fall and limited to just 150 pieces, it followed the debut of a striking gold edition that came out back in 2021 in celebration of the model’s 100th anniversary. Housed in a 23mm x 46mm platinum case, it’s quite large for a Tank—but that’s sort of the point: In contrast to the small and square-ish Normale—i.e. the first Tank—the Cintrée was designed to curve around the wrist like a cuff.

Powered by the manually-wound Cartier Calibre 9780 MC (a.k.a. the Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 849), the watch features plenty of vintage inspiration: Its dial is an off-white eggshell color with the maison’s typical Roman numerals and chemin de fer minute track, but the hands are Breguet-style rather than the more common sword variety. Some upgrades are of course present: Unlike vintage platinum models from the 1920s, this version features a ruby-set crown, which Cartier often pairs with a platinum case to indicate a special anniversary model. It’s also thinner than vintage versions at just 6.03 mm thick, its movement accounting for just 1.85mm of that height.

Priced at $38,500, the Tank Cintrée Les Rééditions is clearly a collector’s piece for serious fans of the maison; few others are likely going to be shelling out $40K for a simple dress watch. But if the Cintrée is simple, it’s simplicity done perfectly. Cartier has introduced anniversary versions of the Cintrée on several occasions before—most of which disappear very, very quickly—and with good reason. The Tank is a classic due in no small part to the timelessness of its conservative design; as a sartorial tornado rages around it, it remains perpetually elegant and desirable. The Cintrée is of course more avant-garde—though it’s also so exclusive by virtue of its production numbers that it has no choice but to remain largely aspirational fare.

Denis Villeneuve, Dune’s director, may be feeling somewhat miffed: He wore a perfectly lovely Tank Française de Cartier to the film’s premiere, but was most certainly upstaged. Sorry, Denis! There’s always the next premiere—and, thankfully, there are many more beautiful Tank models that warrant a wrist shot.