While it certainly ranks among the icons of modern watches, dedicated fans and horological historians alike understand that there’s so much more to Cartier than just the Tank.
With an expansive catalog of highly-coveted references like the Santos and Crash, the historic maison’s radical designs, impressive movements and a knack for producing some of the most unique novelties that the watch world has ever seen date back more than a century, but it’s some recent activity from the Swiss watchmaker that’s really caught our eye.
Even as a perennial standout at the annual industry extravaganza, Cartier’s collection for Watches and Wonders 2026 is especially strong, with a lineup of standout releases that reimagine a variety of classic Cartier shapes in previously unexplored savoir-faire fashions that include new materials and complications.
From reintroducing the Y2K-leaning Roadster to revamping the Santos-Dumont, the novel watches — the capsule includes six new sub-collections — offer not just a fresh take on classic Cartier icons, but a total reimagining of what’s possible for recognizable silhouettes. Let’s get into it.
Cartier Privé
Serious collectors will be intimately familiar with the Cartier Privé collection, the annual capsule featuring archival reissues from the brand’s annals that are often some of the most hyped releases of the year. For their “10th Opus,” Cartier is celebrating a decade of Privé with a run of truly exceptional novelties, with a duo of capsules (each featuring three pieces) in the Trio Exceptional and the Privé La Collection.
References include heavy hitters like a platinum and Burgundy Tank Normale and a highly technical Cloche de Cartier, but the star of the show has to be the Crash Squelette, a skeletonized edition of the bublous, asymmetrical watch rendered in platinum that now features a visible 142-component Manufacture 1967 MC movement. (The ruby cabochon crown has also been adjusted, from 3 o’clock to 4 o’clock.) The hand-hammered bridges require two hours of work alone, which might help explain the ultra-limited run of just 150 numbered pieces.
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Roadster
After over 20 years, the Roadster — Cartier’s cult Y2K racing watch — is officially back. First released in 2002, the tonneau timepiece makes a triumphant return in a handful of materials that include steel, yellow gold and two-toned gold and steel, with a sleeker, more ergonomic shape (reportedly, over 100 artisans worked to reformulate the design) and a rehauled QuickSwitch bracelet. The integrated crown, trapezoidal shape, self-winding calibers and race-ready dial all ring true to the original Roadster, though, and in two sizes, a large (38 mm) and medium (34.9 mm), the retro-esque reference is all but guaranteed to be a hit among collectors.
Santos-Dumont
The creation of Cartier’s Santos-Dumont dates back well over 100 years, and this year’s trio of iterations is clearly intent on paying homage to that legacy, albeit with some notable upgrades. Available in yellow gold and platinum, the updated 31.4 mm piece maintains many of the core design elements like the signature square case, Roman numeral dial, a jeweled cabochon crown and hand-wound Manufacture 430 MC movement, but introduces a new bracelet — a design inspired by made-to-measure mesh bracelets of the 1920s — composed of ultra-thin (1.15 mm thick) precious-metal links, which feels far more luxurious than previous models, especially in yellow gold with a contrasting glossy gilded obsidian dial.
Tortue
The arrival of new Tortue models — the understated, pint-sized, turtle-named watch that’s remained a quiet favorite for brand purists — in diamond-set yellow, white and rose gold is reason enough to celebrate, but the real stunner(s) come in the form of the introduction of two Panthère Mêtiers d’Art versions, featuring a jaw-dropping champlevé enamel panther tableau in white or yellow gold. Limited to just 100 pieces each and set with two gemstones for eyes, the 34.8 mm novelty is one of the premier works of art not just of the collection, but across the entirety of this year’s Watches and Wonders releases.
Baignoire
One of Cartier’s more popular ladies’ watches in recent memory, the Baignoire is the latest piece to receive the legendary Clou de Paris treatment, with the entirety (including the dial) of the bracelet version of the dainty watch featuring the pressed and hand-polished pyramid design across its yellow gold frame. The detailing is especially poignant on the diamond version, which features 171 brilliant-cut stones reverse set across the case and another 100 used to finish the snow-set dial.
Myst de Cartier
An all-new, quartz-powered bracelet-watch from Cartier, the Myst looks more like resplendent jewelry, especially in dazzling white gold, than a horological wonder. Don’t be fooled — despite its clasp-free form factor, the talismanic, studded timepiece is still a work of serious craft, with hand-painted lacquer and hand-set diamonds that are applied one by one, taking approximately 30 hours of setting work to produce.
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