2017 Cartier Santos Galbée XL Ref. 2823 in Steel – Full Set

In 2005, the Cartier Santos Galbée XL enlarged the 1987 Galbée to 32 × 45 mm, while retaining the integrated bracelet with visible screws and the eight-screw bezel. Produced until 2017, it closed the Galbée lineage, ahead of the new Santos de Cartier unveiled at the SIHH in January 2018.
Our steel example, reference 2823 (W20098D6), was sold new on 5 November 2017. Its silver opaline dial with railway minute track and black-painted Roman numerals features the date window at 4:30, blued steel sword-shaped hands, and the secret “Cartier” signature in the numeral VII. The octagonal crown retains its blue cabochon. The case is in excellent condition, with sharp boundaries between satin-finished and mirror-polished surfaces. On the original Santos bracelet, with its hidden double folding clasp, the screws have remained mirror-polished on satin-finished links, as they should be. The Cartier 049 caliber (ETA 2892-A2 base) has been serviced by one of our experienced watchmakers and runs perfectly.
It comes with its original Cartier Warranty Card showing an initial sale on 5 November 2017, its original red Cartier box, and our Steel Warranty Card.
The last of its lineage, the Galbée XL is in our view the most finely judged of the modern Santos: the presence of a contemporary watch, with the proportions and slimness of a shaped watch. A watch to wear every day as well as on the most elegant occasions.

Paris, 1904. For his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who could not let go of the controls in flight to pull out his pocket watch, Louis Cartier designed a watch to be worn on the wrist – regarded as the first men’s wristwatch, and as the first pilot’s watch. Offered to other Cartier clients in 1911, the Cartier Santos then crossed the century in stages. In 1978, under the impetus of Alain-Dominique Perrin, the house reissued it in steel and yellow gold – then, shortly afterwards, in steel – on an integrated bracelet with visible screws echoing those of the bezel, and made it one of the emblematic watches of the 1980s. In 1987, the Santos Galbée curved its case and softened its angles to fit the wrist more closely.

The Galbée XL is the last chapter of this lineage. In 2004, Cartier celebrated the model’s centenary with the Santos 100, a large format 41 mm wide; the following year, it brought the Galbée itself to the scale of the contemporary wrist: 32 × 45 mm, against 29 × 41 mm for the historic “Grande Taille”, while retaining the integrated bracelet of 1978 and the eight-screw bezel. Beneath its screw-down caseback, the Galbée XL houses the Cartier 049 caliber, based on the ETA 2892-A2 – 21 jewels, 28,800 vibrations per hour, 42 hours of power reserve – a slim, proven movement thanks to which the watch is no more than 8.8 mm thick. Produced until 2017, it gave way to the new Santos de Cartier unveiled at the SIHH in January 2018, with an overhanging bezel and interchangeable bracelet: with it ended, thirty years after its birth, the career of the Santos Galbée.

The example we have the pleasure of offering is a Santos Galbée XL reference 2823 – W20098D6 in the catalogue – in steel, sold new on 5 November 2017, in the final months of the model’s commercial life and barely two months before the presentation of its successor. Its silver opaline dial with railway minute track and black-painted Roman numerals, a true stylistic signature of Cartier watches, bears the date window at 4:30, a pair of blued steel sword-shaped hands and the secret “Cartier” signature hidden in the numeral VII, dear to connoisseurs; the octagonal crown is set with its blue cabochon. The case is in excellent condition, with sharp boundaries between the satin-finished case middle and the mirror-polished bezel. The quintessential everyday watch, the Galbée XL has often been repolished indiscriminately, to the point that its screws end up brushed along with the rest of the bracelet. That is not the case here: on the original Santos bracelet, fastened by its hidden double folding clasp, the screws shine, mirror-polished on satin-finished links, as they should be. Caliber 049 has undergone a complete service by one of our experienced watchmakers and runs within the strictest tolerances.

It comes with its original Cartier Warranty Card showing an initial sale on 5 November 2017, its original red Cartier box, as well as our Steel Warranty Card.

The last of its lineage, the Galbée XL is in our view the most finely judged of the modern Santos: the presence of a contemporary watch, with the proportions and slimness of a shaped watch. A watch to wear every day as well as on the most elegant occasions.

This Cartier Santos Galbée XL reference 2823 (W20098D6) in steel, sold new on 5 November 2017, is preserved in excellent overall condition.
The 32 × 45 mm case retains sharp boundaries between the satin-finished case middle and the mirror-polished bezel, whose eight screws are crisp; the engravings on the screw-down caseback, including the reference and serial number, are perfectly legible. The octagonal crown and its blue cabochon are intact.
The original silver opaline dial is impeccable: the black-painted Roman numerals, railway minute track, “SWISS MADE” at 6 o’clock and the secret “Cartier” signature in the numeral VII are intact, beneath a scratch-free sapphire crystal; the blued steel sword-shaped hands and the date window at 4:30 are perfect.
The automatic mechanical movement, Cartier caliber 049 based on the ETA 2892-A2, has undergone a complete service by one of our experienced watchmakers and runs within the strictest tolerances.
The original steel Santos bracelet, with satin-finished links and mirror-polished screws, shows no stretch and articulates perfectly; its hidden double folding clasp, signed Cartier, locks firmly.
The original Cartier Warranty Card, dated 5 November 2017, is perfectly legible, and the original red Cartier box is in very fine condition. Finally, the watch comes with our Steel Warranty Card.
An excellent example of the last of the Santos Galbée, complete with its card and box!

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