There are many wondrous mechanical watches, from stately tourbillons, maddeningly complex chain-and-fusees, dulcet-toned minute repeaters, perpetual calendars and intricate split-second chronographs being just a few of the hallowed. We admire them because they encapsulate centuries of tradition as well as undeniable mastery of truly skilled watchmakers dedicated to constructing painstaking and delicate mechanisms. Even if those of us who aren’t engineers or horological surgeons really understand them fully, we sort of get what they do with gentle and patient explanation (and maybe a few detailed illustrations or animations), and how they do it, at least in the most layman sense. Yet, there are certain mechanical debuts that simply challenge our perception of the very basics of a watch and how it operates, like the first Ulysse Nardin “Freak” at the start of the new milennium, (which incidentally just underwent an insane revision of its own, well worthy of another blog in the near future), or the various “Horological Machines” from MB&F. But today, I’m discussing the fabulous Cartier Masse Mysterieuse–the “Mystery (Winding) Mass”–a watch which has taken the better part of eight years to bring from initial concept to fruition, such were the challenges posed in its creation. Automatic mechanical watches are as common as blades of grass, but how about one who’s self-winding mechanism also contains the very movement it feeds power to? Here we have a timepiece which really comes off as less a piece of mechanical engineering, than an object of some strange mechanical-magic conjuring, all while wrapped within the apparent–yet highly deceptive–veil of elegant simplicity. How did Cartier do it?
The answer to this 4 Hertz ticking riddle, in part, can be found in a system of four all-but invisible fine toothed sapphire discs–their edge hidden beneath the Roman hour track at the dial edge–each supporting the moving parts such as the hands, the rotor contained movement and the wheel which bears them. Two additional sapphire crystals cover the dial and back, respectively, in standard fashion. However, within Cartier’s deceptively simple three-handed mechanism, is an ingenious differential gearing which permits the hands to be driven with independence, and without any interference, from the apparently suspended and free-floating mechanism! While the Mystery mechanism has been a delight and bafflement for Cartier buyers and admirers since the brand’s clocks of the same moniker first debuted in early 20th century, the Masse Mysterieuse takes things to another level, and unifies the brand’s mastery in both that specialized metier, and the more broadly seen, yet no less tricky, horological art of the skeletonized, or openworked, movement.
Add everything together, and the result is astonishingly striking and beautifully whimsical, a near-fantasy expression of Cartier’s typical penchant for Parisian high style, and impeccable Swiss high craftsmanship. It should also be noted that the watch is yet another brilliant technical coup for Carole Forestier-Kasapi, a veritable Wonder Woman in the realm of high watchmaking, and a creator and deep contributor to more than a few headscratchingly innovative complicated watches over the years, including the famous Ulysse Nardin Freak mentioned above. While she’s now creating Tomorrow’s marvels for TAG-Heuer, her more than decade long tenure at Cartier certainly ends on the most triumphal of notes with this reference!
The Cartier Masse Mysterieuse is a unique statement, one which is delicate and refined on the one hand, yet bold and attention getting with its 43.5mm diameter platinum case. Some might not be enthused that you can see your hand (hair and all, as the case may be for some) through the sapphire construction, but that’s the nature of this very special mechanical beauty. Price is set at just over $275,000 in its basic form with hand-sewn alligator strap seen here, limited to 30 pieces. But Cartier will also offer spectacular baguette diamond-set variants (topping out at over $1M for the version with full set platinum bracelet) that also flex Cartier’s might as a jeweler with few peers, and no masters. For the ten individuals able to score one of those, or the thirty who’ll grab the sans joaillerie version for that matter, I doubt the price of entry is more than a financial formality. For the rest of us, Watches and Wonders 2022 was a fantastic opportunity to appreciate what the house of Cartier can do when all constraint is removed, and creativity takes glorious wing.