In 1904, Louis Cartier, together with master watchmaker Edmond Jaeger, designed a wristwatch for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who could not take out his pocket watch in flight: it is regarded as the first men’s “wrist” watch – and as the first pilot’s watch. On 12 November 1906, at Bagatelle, the aviator made the first officially recognised flight in Europe aboard his 14-bis, the Santos on his wrist. Offered to other Cartier clients in 1911, it established a vocabulary that would endure for a century: a square case with softened corners, a bezel with visible screws, a white dial with a railway minute track and painted black Roman numerals – the true stylistic signature of Cartier watches –, blued steel sword-shaped hands and a crown set with a blue cabochon.
For six decades, the Santos-Dumont appeared only sparingly, made piece by piece by Cartier Paris for a clientele of insiders. Everything changed at the beginning of the 1970s. Having come under the leadership of Robert Hocq and Alain-Dominique Perrin in 1972, the house on the rue de la Paix relaunched its watch production: in 1973, the Louis Cartier collection brought together twelve models in 18-carat gold – Tank, Ceinture, Ellipse, Cristallor, Gondole… – and the Santos-Dumont was one of its pillars, as reference 78097 for the “Large Model”, initially intended for men’s wrists but today perfectly unisex, and 78098 for the “Small Model” designed for ladies. The 1904 design was taken up in a 25 × 36 mm case, whose flat bezel with eight visible screws contrasts with the satin-finished flanks; the octagonal crown received a faceted blue cabochon. These watches were henceforth made in Switzerland – the case bears the Helvetia-head hallmark of the Geneva assay office – and powered by the manually-wound Cartier caliber 78-1, with 17 jewels, built on an ETA base. The dial, however, retains the “PARIS” signature at 6 o’clock, specific to the examples distributed by the Parisian house and, today, the most sought-after by collectors. The same year saw the launch of the “Must de Cartier”, whose signature appears on the red box and the strap of our watch. A few years later, reference 96054 “Extra-Plate” succeeded it; in 1978, the Santos de Cartier, known as the “Santos Carrée”, in steel or in steel and yellow gold, with an integrated bracelet, opened another chapter: that of the democratisation of the collection. The 78097 thus remains the first Santos-Dumont of the modern era – and the closest to the original. Yves Saint Laurent owned one: his, photographed on his wrist by Horst P. Horst for Vogue, was sold as part of the Pierre Bergé collection at Sotheby’s in 2025.
Our example, produced circa 1973 and bearing number 06xx, is new. Not close to new: new, never worn. The yellow gold case has never been near a polishing machine: the mirror-polished chamfers running along the satin-finished flanks have a width and crispness seen only on watches fresh from the workshop, and the demarcations between satin-finished and mirror-polished surfaces are incredibly sharp. The Helvetia-head hallmark, on the right flank, is struck with remarkable depth, as are the “Cartier Paris” engravings and the reference and serial numbers on the back of the caseback. The white “PARIS” dial is immaculate, the blued steel sword-shaped hands intact, the faceted blue cabochon of the crown flawless, the mineral glass free of any scratch. The Cartier caliber 78-1 that powers it has nevertheless been fully serviced by one of our experienced watchmakers and runs to the strictest tolerances, with an absolutely ideal timegrapher reading: 315° amplitude, +3 s/day, and 0.1 ms beat error. In short, the movement is new as well.
The watch is presented on its original “les Must de Cartier” strap in glossy black crocodile leather, itself new, fastened by its original 18-carat yellow gold Cartier folding clasp. It is presented in its original red “Must de Cartier” box, and accompanied by our Steel Warranty Card.
A “PARIS” Santos-Dumont from the Louis Cartier collection, just as it left the rue de la Paix half a century ago: new, complete, never worn. We had never encountered one in this condition, and we doubt we will ever see another – discerning collectors will need no convincing.
