Tank Américaine Petit modèle

The Tank watch

With its joints built into the case, it is both a square and a rectangle – a stroke of stylistic genius and quite unique as the connection points of the strap are concealed under the famous sharp-edged flat vertical sidepieces. 

Legend has it that Louis Cartier designed the watch in 1917, based on the horizontal section of the Renault military tanks. Created during World War I, the first prototype of the Tank watch was presented to General John Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe. 

The strength of its design made a clean break with the fashion of the times full of twirls and twists, pioneering a new formal rigour. The watch became immediately popular premonitory of a trend that would impose pure lines and stylistic elegance.

Adopted by the most famous people, from Indian princes to film stars, it is timeless, modern and contemporary, an eternal favourite whatever the times. The list of celebrities who keep the myth alive is endless: from Catherine Deneuve to Elton John and Princess Diana...  

The Tank Américaine watch

Launched in 1989, it was inspired by the Tank cintrée watch, reproducing the curvature of its case. A marvel of watch-making that plays with geometry, alternating sharp and soft effects, straight lines and curves, rounded edges and corners, the Tank Américaine is also the first Cartier model to have an arched, water-resistant case. With this creation, Cartier asserts itself as a fully-fledged watchmaker.

Chunky, solid and aware of its own beauty, the Tank Américaine watch has the first adjustable strap adapted to the famous deployant buckle, which was patented by Cartier in 1910. Its power and the elegance of its stretched, slightly convex, rectangular shape make it a great classic, midway between a dressy watch and a casual watch, and a very American way of life lesson in style…the secret to its eternal popularity.