2018 Santos de Cartier WSSA0029

The first rule of writing a watch review anything is: know your audience. What does the reader want to know? What does he or she care about, what will keep them reading, and why will they keep reading? What are you providing for them? The great thing about having a site that nobody reads (to be fair to myself, it's -- at least partly -- because it doesn't exist yet) is that the audience is only one's self. And so one can concentrate on what you think you'd like to read (hard to separate that out from what you want to write sometimes) and then, not only will you like to read what's written here (so you'll at least have one returning customer), but if people ever do find this site and like what they read, then we'll have some people with some good taste all together :D. Today, hopefully, you want to know about the Santos de Cartier.

There are plenty of articles and reviews from the usual suspects (and shout out to Stephen Pulvirent over at Hodinkee whose A Week on the Wrist was probably the catalyst that led me to ultimately get the watch that this review will [eventually] be about) that will tell you: the 2018 Santos de Cartier WSSA0029 is a stainless steel, medium size (35.1 mm), square-ish 3-hand watch from Cartier with an in-house automatic caliber -- the 1847 MC, beating at 28,800 BPH -- with a 42 hour power reserve.

So why another review? Let's not kid ourselves. Without exaggerating, there are probably 50 (or more) full English-language reviews of this watch out there on the Internet (and that's ignoring the 100 YouTube videos doing the same). And -- without taking anything away from any of those -- they will generally say roughly the same thing. The tl;dr of it is (of course): this is a nice watch. Most (if not all) start by mentioning the Santos's history. That it's the current incarnation of the first-ever men's wristwatch and also the first ever pilot watch. To cover that base (keeping in mind that men used pocket watches only at the time and that the wristwatch was seen as a gimmick or jewellery for women): in 1904 Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont (based in Paris at the time) mentioned to his good friend Louis Cartier (head of design at Cartier Paris) that it was difficult and dangerous for him to take his hands off of the controls of his airplane to check the time on his pocket watch. Cartier presumably said something like Je vais voir ce que je peux faire and came back a little while later with the original Santos wristwatch, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Probably not the original Santos, but from that era

So what does this particular audience what? A story (I imagine). I would argue that almost anyone interested in the anachronistic world of mechanical watches (or just buying one, period) is interested in a good story. And these stories come in many dimensions and are built in different ways. To talk about that, let's step back to why anyone, for any reason, would spend a serious amount of cash on something that performs a basic function identically (or even, at times, slightly worse) as something far less expensive, or that they already have with them at all times anyways (e.g. a mobile phone).

This is one of the great things about the world of watches. You can be interested in it for any number of reasons: the historical significance, the intricacies of the mechanical movements, the element of design of the watch itself, or even the thrill that you're wearing something that might cost 10% of your income (or more) on your wrist. All of these things can happily co-exist. And the why? of yet-another-Santos-review is this: a meta approach to why it makes sense to buy such a watch, and for those given reasons, why it might make sense to buy this watch in particular.

The historical significance of the Santos has already been touched upon: while the watch has gone through several incarnations since the original, the overall design and the references to its past are clear. The curved square case that tapers directly into the lugs, the roman numerals, the Cartier signature at 12 o'clock, and of course the blue cabochon crown. Other design cues reference Santos versions that have appeared and disappeared over the last century such as the industrial-looking exposed bezel screws and their counterparts on the stainless steel bracelet (none of which I believe have any functional purpose other than to look cool -- and in that, in my personal opinion, they succeed). So, if it's historical significance that you're after, the Santos has it in spades: whether it's the origins of aviation in late-19th and early-20th century France, the original men's wristwatch introduced by the most eminent jeweller in the world, or just to Santos watches past, like the 1980's-excess solid gold version worn by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, the Santos's history has it all.

Unlike, say, A. Lange und Söhne, or even to a much lesser degree Rolex, Cartier generally does not put too much emphasis on the movements used in their mechanical watches. One could put a huge footnote here but instead -- inline -- some important background: way back in the day -- like in the days of Louis Cartier and the original Santos -- Cartier worked with Edmond Jaeger (of Jaeger-LeCoultre fame) for sourcing Cartier watch movemens and the collaboration lasted for years. Even as late as in the 1970's, Cartier London used JLC movements in famous watches such as the Crash. And while for a long time Cartier used "off the shelf" ETA movements in many of its watches (often modified, however), the Collection Privée, Cartier Paris collection (luxury hand-made watches separate from the "standard" collection, and which models were generally limited editions being made in series of usually no more than 100 units) used high-end movements from JLC (of course), but also Piaget, Frederique Piguet, and others.

During this time, as explained over here by George Cramer, Cartier sometimes ran into troubles when they couldn't source an important component for a watch that was in demand. In addition to the now important requirement of watches being made with "in-house" movements, Cartier doubled-down on Swiss mechanical watch making by building a 30,000 square meter manufacture in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2008 and hiring the watchmaking equivalent of Steve Jobs, Carole Forestier-Kasapi, to head things up. The results of this massive investment have been many high-complication movements from Cartier sold typically through the Cartier Privé collection (the Skeleton Tank Asymétrique, anyone?) but also the more "everyday" movement powering the current Santos: the 1847 MC.

In my informal testing, the watch keeps very good time and falls well within official COSC "chronometer" certification (though Cartier doesn't make any claims on official certification). The automatic winding is flawless and the claimed 42 hour power reserve is indeed met. Though hidden by the solid case back, the 1847 MC -- while not even aiming to compete with movements designed to be seen and appreciated -- is a solid movement that hits above its weight. Although it is not advertised by Cartier, one very interesting stat is that the movement boasts anti-magnetism properties giving it a magnetic resistance of 1200 Gauss. What does this number mean? Well, in addition to being effectively resistant to everyday magnetic fields (something that can't be said by, for example, watches made by Nomos-Glashütte), it is well beyond the original Rolex Milgauss's 1000 Gauss resistance (keeping in mind that the entire purpose of that watch was that it was designed for scientists who had to work closely to magnetic fields). Crazy that Cartier doesn't advertise this, especially given the prevalence of magnetic fields coming from TVs, mobile phones, iPads, and computers that we're bombarded with all day long everywhere we go these days.

While we touched upon it above in the discussion of its historical significance, the Santos's style and design is really what it's all about. The angles, the curves, the rounded square, the roman numerals, the combinations of brushed and polished metals, the appearance of an integrated bracelet where the bezel flows into it (note that the Santos also comes with a leather strap and a quick-change system that makes it easy not only to change the strap/bracelet without tools but also to resize the bracelet), the blued hands that look different in every kind of light, and it all works together somehow perfectly. While style is something that is impossible to not be subjective about, design has a lot of objectivity in it and this watch is objectively well-designed and beautiful.

This can apply to any watch (and actually a lot of "non-essential" [or even essential?] purchases like art or jewellery or a first edition of a book you really like or whatever) but since this is my first-ever watch review (can you tell?) there's room for it here: I don't need to convince you that buying a nice watch is not a dumb idea. In fact, that I bring it up at all makes it clear that I feel a bit strange about it and that it's something that needs to be justified. Well, it doesn't -- or it shouldn't, anyways. But here we are, so: there are not a lot of things that last a lifetime. A mechanical watch, when properly cared for, can last a lifetime and in fact it can last longer than that. Many of us spend similar amounts, or more, on a ring, for example. And a watch is a lot more functional than a ring! It is a connection to everything you've done while wearing that watch, and since it's always with you, you can always glance down and be brought back to your cherished moments that you experienced while wearing that watch. While the watch may have come into your possession as a gift, or as something you purchased to mark a special occasion like a birth or a wedding or to celebrate an achievement like a promotion at work, or even just because you felt like going out and buying one, that happy moment can always be brought back to you whenever you need to check the time. Sure, a $50 plastic watch might perform the same function (as does your iPhone), but neither will be with you in the long run, and neither will likely remind you of your hard work that got you that watch or of the special relationship that led you to acquiring it as a gift.

There's a lot more to be said on the above topic, but hopefully this isn't the last watch review I write either. And also, not everyone needs to be convinced. But given the reasons outlined above, the Santos de Cartier is an excellent candidate to fill that role in one's life. Something beautiful, something solid, something that has a connection to its own past, in which you can mix memories and connections to your past. Looking great with its steel bracelet, and boasting 100 m water resistance, and looking equally good with a suit or shorts and a T-shirt by the swimming pool, it really is a watch that literally can always be with you too.

Thanks for reading, and see you next time!