The Best Cartier Watches For Ladies

Cartier is a household name, easily crossing the threshold from watch insider (or luxury-object insider) to fully accepted in the broader cultural zeitgeist as a sort of “things dreams are made of” aspirational fare. If Rolex is the man’s peak piece of horological wanting, then by goodness, Cartier occupies an equal space in the minds of women watch buyers. Here we will go through some of the best Cartier ladies' watches. (Yes, of course there are plenty of women who look to Rolex the same way a man does, and vice versa with men and Cartier. The two brands stand shoulder to shoulder as perhaps the most recognizable names in the game.)

To achieve the status of being labeled influential in watchmaking is one thing. Very few reach the rarified air of transcending the category altogether. Considering that watches are one of a very few pieces of physical "jewelry" that a man can wear, it’s remarkable that Cartier has been able to carve out a place of legitimate watch enthusiasm for the woman buyer who has far more choices in the category. Granted, Cartier operates in space beyond just watches, unlike the aforementioned Rolex. 

Cartier History

Becoming the most recognizable name, along with Rolex, in the watch industry, is a feat that Cartier didn’t accomplish overnight.  The luxury jewelry house was founded back in 1847 in Paris, France, by Louis-François Cartier. However, Cartier's rapid ascension as a watchmaker and jeweler came during the third generation of family operations, when the company was under the leadership of Louis, Jacques, and Pierre Cartier during the early portion of the 20th century – the time when wristwatches were really coming into fashion. During this time, the company several innovative moves, including split operations in multiple cities such as Paris, London, and New York, which helped elevate the brand’s awareness in these formative years. Beyond just being on the ground, the brand was a product innovator, being one of the earliest creators of wristwatches. 

The most well-documented story of this period was when Louis Cartier supplied his friend and aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont with a Santos watch that could be worn on his wrist during his trailblazing aerial purists. Soon after, the  Panthère motif appeared for the first time on a wristwatch, in diamond and onyx, along with the release of the first mystery clock. 

Further, Cartier developed a relationship with Edmond Jaeger to supply calibers as its watchmaking efforts began to scale. At the time of World War I, pocket watches were still ultimately preferred by men, with wristwatches being labeled as wristlets, given their more dainty presentation. The military use of trench watches during the war shifted this perception, and the value of being able to quickly see the time became paramount during wartime effort and ultimately led to the gradual shift among everyday consumers. Seeing the writing on the wall, Cartier first designed the Tank Normale in 1917, releasing it to the public in limited quantities in 1919. Despite the watch’s popularized elegance in the years to follow, its inspiration comes from a top-down view of a tank known as the Renault FT-17 used during the war. The lined case sides, referred to as brancards, were bold in these early iterations and were made to resemble the treaded areas for the movement of the wartime machine from a distance.

Adding to the allure and military connection, it is rumored that one of the early Tank Normale prototypes was gifted to General John Pershing in 1918. However, in the early 1920s, the Tank took the eventual form of what would be the framework for the model in the decades to come, the Cartier Tank Louis. The Tank Louis upheld many of the principles of the Normale.  It had Roman numeral hours, blued hands, the cabochon crown, and an inward linear minute track. Where it separated, was with its proportions and more elegantly rounded case sides that helped shift away from any sense of brutalist focus of its origin story. The Tank, despite what many tend to believe, was not an immediate commercial success, as it took years for the watch to reach significant production levels. That said, the Tank managed to develop an unprecedented sense of pop cultural relevance, with names like Andy Warhol, John F. Kennedy, Yves Saint- Laurent, Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, and Princess Diana all famously wearing Tanks over the years. 

In many ways, the Tank has become synonymous with Cartier as a brand unto itself – as has the Santos. But today we are focusing on some of the best, or rather our favorite, Cartier watches for women. And as trends have shifted from smaller to larger on the men’s side, many watches the brand originated to be tied to sport and warfare have blended seamlessly into the diversified watch and jewelry powerhouse that Carter stands as today.

Best Cartier Tank Watch For Ladies

First we will start with the Tank for all of the historical reasons stated above, sure, but also for the way it has slid into the DMs of our lives and become as iconic and aspirational as a Submariner on the Rolex side.

Today on the women’s side of things, the Tank Must or the "Tank small" feels like the ideal version of the watch in the modern context. While most men buyers of the Tank in its larger formats are likely to purchase it on a leather strap, the model has one of the most underrated bracelets in the game. It’s an H-link style that really elevates the watch to a classy place that feels distinct from the sort of early-to-mid century look of the watch on black leather although that remains one the best variations of the watch nonetheless.

The Tank Must, which is a quartz watch, comes in a standard battery-powered configuration as well as in the SolarBeat variation which sees the light transmit the iconic Roman numerals themselves. The latter is a far more difficult model to find at retail but shows that the early 20th century icon isn’t afraid to iterate. Aside from the tank-like structure of the case, the real hallmark of a Cartier Tank are the Roman numerals against the opaline white dial. This is also as good a time as any to say that Cartier is the kind of brand that can trade on its design while fitting its watches with quartz calibers. You don’t buy a Cartier purely for mechanical prowess (although plenty of its models are no slouch in that department), you buy it because the iconic design speaks to you and because it means something. 

The current entry price for a small Cartier Tank is $3,600 on a bracelet and $4,000 on a strap.

Best Cartier Santos Watch For Ladies

We can consider the Santos to be something of the sportier cousin to the Tank. And while the current crop of Santos Dumont models represent the connective tissue to the original commissioned pilot’s watch, today’s Santos is far more synonymous to a more capitalistic 1980s nostalgia.  Think Wall Street's Gordon Gekko, and two-tone, and you have a good idea what we are talking about. In fact, the Santos is one of those rare watches (count the Rolex Datejust in this group) where the most iconic version of the watch is in its two-tone configuration. 

Like many Cartier references, the fortunes of the Santos rose and fell with war and economic forces which saw its relaunch in the 1970s as the Santos de Cartier, which now offered the watch on a bracelet, a response to the growing appetite for watches of this sort.  The bezel became bolder, with larger screws now part of the visual language, with the bracelet sharing the screws of the bezel in its design. Another stylistic cue was the availability of the aforementioned two-tone version, something of an ‘80 design trope that permeated the industry then, and one of the trademark looks associated with the Santos to this day. 

It could be one of the best two-tone watch of all time. The modern Cartier Santos lineup now includes a broad array of references, from quartz to high-horology pieces, including the stunning Santos-Dumont Skeleton Watch, rendered in rose gold and featuring a tiny replica of a Santos-Dumont airplane as its micro-rotor. To be sure, the Santos line is one of Cartier’s most successful model families, and one of its most versatile. For the woman buyer, we will keep things in the two-tone department, looking at the Santos de Cartier "Small" in two-tone, and — while it is not the same as it was when it gracing wrists in the ‘70s and ‘80s – it still rocks pretty hard.

While the entry price of a Cartier Santos Small is $6,700 in steel, the favorite in the clubhouse here remains the two-tone, which comes with a hefty $11,000 price tag. It’s in scenarios like this where you can legitimately begin to question why you would pay quite this much for a quartz movement. It really comes down to what you are looking for in a watch, ultimately. It goes without saying that the quartz caliber will eat the lunch of an automatic in terms of accuracy but then again…batteries.

Loving a Santos also comes with the acceptance that its shiny bezel is prime for scratching, which is just something to be aware of if you’re in the market for one. The Santos is nearly on the same iconic plane as the Tank — just in a slightly different sort of way.

The Cartier Panthère

Now we reach something of an “it” watch for Cartier in the women’s market, as it has traditionally been a play geared exclusively for women until the brand released a curious large model a couple of years ago at Watches & Wonders. It has less an historic predicate having only been in existence since 1983 with a revival in 2017. In many ways it is sort the more jewelry-forward take on the Santos with a deeply similar case style paired to an entirely polished bracelet as opposed to the sportier and more angular fare of the Santos.

The appeal of the Panthère is in its overall smaller footprint. You see, not every Cartier is created equal(ly small). The sizes vary by model and the Panthère is certainly the smallest in that regard. In fact, the brand recently unveiled its smallest Panthère yet and it became  one of the unsung smashes of Watches & Wonders as a result.

It isn’t as if the Panthère represents some sort of value play. It is decidedly les expensive than a Santos, but also more expensive than a Tank, with an entry price of $4,600. If anything, it represents one of the few watches in this list that have the unisex appeal from the male buyer standpoint and perhaps that is also what has made it such a modern hit for the brand. 

The Cartier Baignore

Speaking of a watch that has been created for the female consumer, say hello to the Baginore. Where the Tank and Santos speak universally to all watch-loving souls, the Baignore is one of the most coveted watches for women from Cartier despite the other all-time icons in the broader collection. 

Where the Panthère is an ‘80s affair, the Baignore has an older history… sort of. We must first take things back to 1912, when Louis Cartier made an oval shaped watch for the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia. But that was more of a one-off. It made a more public debut in 1957 as the Ovale Cintrè before becoming the Baignore in 1973, the name deriving from the French word for Bathtub. It is known for its now iconic ovular silhouette. But the reason it resonates so deeply with female watch buyers is that it really toes the line between watch and bracelet. It could be argued that the Baignore is as much a piece of jewelry as it is a watch, a factor that plays nicely into Cartier’s overall legacy as a brand.

It is fashioned in gold (at $21,400 with a quartz caliber) and can be had in various bracelet sizes (notably 15, 16, or 17) all in a small case format, The bracelet detaches and attaches in a unique and satisfying way with a solid snap when closed.  The watch is a real testament to Cartier’s design codes – notably the Roman-numeral dial and blued hands) can be translated from square to Oval seamlessly.

There Is No Such Thing As Best

In the end, this is just a small sample size of some of our favorite Cartier watches for women but the list could honestly be nearly endless with models like the Pasha and the Ballon Bleu coming into play. The former features a unique dial cage atop the crystal and the latter sports an iconic cabochon crown enclosed within a metal frame.

There is no right or wrong Cartier to pick when looking for the best Cartier watch for ladies, the brand is iconic for a reason. The only right answer is to choose the watch you love. You can take a look at the brand's current offerings over at cartier.com.