What’s It Like To Get Your Grail Watch And Live With It? The Story Of My Louis Cartier Tank

Credits:  Article and images by Martin Green @ Quill & Pad.  See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/10/26/whats-it-like-to-get-your-grail-watch-and-live-with-it-the-story-of-my-louis-cartier-tank/

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Not all Tanks are created equal

But all those models didn’t matter to me because the moment I had my friend’s Louis Cartier Tank in my hand it became my grail watch.

The problem was that this wasn’t just any Louis Cartier Tank, it was a platinum pre-CPCP Louis Cartier Tank.

“CPCP” stands for “Collection Privée Cartier Paris,” a line of high-end watches that was available from 1998 until 2008 containing masterpieces from Cartier’s history like the Santos Dumont, Tortue, Tank Obus, and many more.

Some were released as a limited edition, others in small quantities, and among them was the Louis Cartier Tank in both platinum and yellow gold.

The Louis Cartier Tank I desired so much predated the CPCP collection. To most people, these two would look like one and the same watch; yet to me, they are almost completely different animals.

A pre-CPCP Tank has a cleaner dial as it lacks the word “Paris” written under Cartier. The guilloche pattern on the dial of the pre-CPCP Tank is finer, and the case features marginally thinner brancards (vertical sidebars).

The pointed blue sapphire cabochon of Martin Green’s grail Louis Cartier Tank

The pointed blue sapphire cabochon of Martin Green’s grail Louis Cartier Tank

Also, the sapphire cabochon in the crown –Cartier’s emblematic horological element – is pointier.

These may be minor details, yet when it comes to grail watches, especially when it comes to grail watches, minor details make all the difference. Interestingly, although the pre-CPCP Louis Cartier Tank was never a limited edition, the production for the platinum case model was so limited that they are extremely difficult to come by.

That platinum case itself was a problem, too. While a yellow gold Louis Cartier Tank was already really, really stretching my budget, the platinum model was even more expensive – even though it significantly contributed to the understatement of the watch. However, yellow gold simply would not do it for me.

Engraved back of Martin Green’s grail Louis Cartier Tank

Years passed with this grail watch being exactly what many grail watches are: the stuff of dreams and nothing more.

I didn’t come across another pre-CPCP Louis Cartier Tank in platinum during all that time. Which wouldn’t exactly have made a difference because I wouldn’t have had the funds to buy it anyway.

Then, one day my friend suddenly announced that he would sell his Tank.

After the initial shock, I also saw an opportunity. This was the time for me to make this grail watch mine!

Funds were still an issue, but to overcome this I decided to part with a portion of my existing watch collection. Although painful at the time, it helped me close the gap, and I was able to obtain a watch I thought I would never wear.

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Credits:  Article and images by Martin Green @ Quill & Pad.  See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/10/26/whats-it-like-to-get-your-grail-watch-and-live-with-it-the-story-of-my-louis-cartier-tank/