The watch department at perfect replica Cartier had a banner year in 1973 – in fact, the whole darn company did. That was the year that the three disparate houses of luxury fake Cartier (in London, Paris, and New York) began the process of coming together as a singular organization under the leadership of a new group of investors.
At the same time that major change was afoot in the executive suite, the Swiss made replica Cartier department was all-systems-go, putting some of the company’s most famous watch designs and collections into serial production for the first time. You know the names: Vendôme, Ceinture, Fabergé, Baignoire, Gondole, Ellipse, Santos, Cristallor, Coussin, Square, Tank Normale, and the Tank Louis Cartier replica for sale.
I can’t fathom a modern-day brand introducing twelve different aaa quality replica watches into serial production at the same time, within a single calendar year – and it’s not like these watches only required dial changes, or were even just multiple sizes of the same case. These were 12 different case shapes – and 11 of the 12 were made immediately available in either a small or a large size. That’s a ton of new SKUs to keep up with, and I think what they were trying to signal to the outside world was that cheap fake Cartier was ready to invest in watchmaking in a major way.
Within this glut of newly available watches, there are some that have become staples of the high quality fake Cartier catalog, while others that have gradually risen to the status of collector cult classics. Still, there are others that have faded into relative obscurity and are still waiting for their moment in the sun and a potential revival. The watches that have become staples are easy to identify, including the Louis Carter (occasionally abbreviated to L.C.) and the Santos (which I’ve personally desired ever since Stephen’s review, almost five years ago).
Serious collectors tend to chase the Baignoire and Normale, but today, we have one of that final remaining group of Swiss movement replica Cartier designs that is still waiting for its opportunity to shine. The Gondole (French for gondola) is a watch that easily fits inside the best super clone Cartier design language for watches – the case is squarish and the dial is white with highly legible black Roman numerals and blue sword hands.
However, what the case adds to the mix is what makes the Gondole special, even without it being over-the-top or flashy. What the Gondole brings to the table is just the right amount of (for lack of a better term) visual inflation, to evolve the case from a square design to one that is more of a cushion, all without turning too much into a tonneau. Oh, and who can forget that stepped case? Yeah, you’ll want to take a closer look at it in the Hodinkee Shop.