Cartier epitomizes creativity and individuality in jewelry design. The 175 objects featured in this book exemplify Cartier’s inimitable talent and represent milestones in twentieth-century design. These archetypes of excellence are important benchmarks in the history of world jewelry, and their relevance continues into the twenty-first century. The jeweled objects in this book are reproduced at actual size, and are accompanied by illustrations and detailed descriptions from Cartier’s vast archives in London, New York, and Paris. Six essays cover a broad range of topics from Cartier’s colorful history, including the influence of the Ballets Russes on Cartier’s forward-looking designs of 1910, the jeweler’s extraordinary technical and design prowess, and the important clients and collectors who wore Cartier’s most exquisite creations. This book features ingenious pieces that reveal how Cartier—by setting new aesthetic, ornamental, technical, and stylistic trends—is a pioneer in the field of jewelry design. This catalog is an important reference for collectors, and includes previously unpublished photographs.

“A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This] elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.”—The Economist The “astounding” (André Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon—as told by a great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives “Ms. Cartier Brickell has done her grandfather proud.”—The Wall Street Journal The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents: Louis, the visionary designer who created the first men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the controls of his flying machine; Pierre, the master dealmaker who bought the New York headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace; and Jacques, the globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry. Francesca Cartier Brickell, whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers, has traveled the world researching her family’s history, tracking down those connected with her ancestors and discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told dramas, romances, intrigues, betrayals, and more. The Cartiers also offers a behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond, the Romanov emeralds, the classic panther pieces—and the long line of stars from the worlds of fashion, film, and royalty who wore them, from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to Wallis Simpson, Coco Chanel, and Elizabeth Taylor. Published in the two-hundredth anniversary year of the birth of the dynasty’s founder, Louis-François Cartier, this book is a magnificent, definitive, epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.

Created with the full co-operation of Cartier, this exquisite book showcases the rich holdings of the Cartier Collection and archive. It features not only a sumptuous array of rings, bracelets, necklaces, and tiaras, but also cocktail and smoking accessories, mystery clocks and lavish objects created by Cartier's ateliers in Paris, London and New York. Organized thematically, the book features magnificent jewels and accessories owned by such arbiters of taste as Daisy Fellowes, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Grace, Barbara Hutton and Elizabeth Taylor. Throughout, specially commissioned photographs of Cartier's legendary jewels are accompanied by vintage photographs - drawn from the Condé Nast and Cartier archives - of these royals, socialites and Hollywood stars in their Cartier finery, including work by Steichen, Horst, Beaton and Charbonneau.

The pursuit of excellence is reflected in Audemars Piguets prestigious models, painstakingly crafted by artisans for over 130 years. Founded in 1875 by Jules-Louis Audemars and Edward-Auguste Piguet, the manufacturing headquarters of Audemars Piguet are nestled in the Joux Valley in Switzerland. For more than a century, this prestigious company has held a unique position in the world of high quality watch making: its expertise, creativity, and state-of-the-art technology lie behind Audemars Piguets luxurious and innovative watches. At the turn of the twentieth century, the factory employed more than seventy craftsmen, whose mastery and excellent grasp of the changing times enabled the development of traditional pieces, and the production of revolutionary watches, both of the highest quality. These include the slimline jeweled watches for women in the Art Deco era, chronographs in the Forties, the first perpetual calendar watch in 1957, the famous Royal Oakthe first high-end sports watchin 1972, and the ultramodern Millenary MC12 in 2008. The mechanisms, the meticulous processes by which they are developed, and their technical and stylistic inventions reveal the history of a company that combines audacity, ingenuity, and luxury.

Cartier in Motion' unravels the unique story of Cartier?s approach to watchmaking and design. Curated by Lord Norman Foster, the book explores the creativity of Cartier. Whilst telling the story of Cartier watchmaking and the invention of the modern wristwatch, Cartier in Motion explores the change in society at the turn of the 20th century. Amidst upheavals in art, architecture, travel and lifestyles, the traces of a new world could be seen.0.

From the creation of its first writing implements in 1868 to today's position as the world's second largest producer of fine writing instruments, Cartier has beautifully combined technical innovation with creative audacity. This volume features a comprehensive selection of pieces from Cartier's incredibly inventive repertoire-- pens, inkwells, mechanical pencils, calendars, stationary and other accessories-- dating from the middle of the 19th century to the present, weaving the story of Cartier's production as a joaillier into the broader fabric of the history of writing instruments and the famous clients who chose to use them. The historical pieces-- many of which are shown here for the first time-- are highly sought after by collectors, and even those made during the last decade are commanding record prices in the salesrooms. The Baron de Rothschild, J. P. Morgan, Mona Bismarck, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Rudyard Kipling are among the distinguished clients who wrote with magnificent pens and pencils made of gold or platinum, incorporating diamonds, jade, sapphires, emeralds, lacquer, mother-of-pearl, or ingenious timepieces and calendars. One-of-a-kind pieces from New York, Paris and London are thoroughly documented and illustrated with photography specially commissioned for this book. The contemporary writing instruments featured here, from the famous Must to the recent Diabolo de Cartier demonstrate how the company's designers are using the company's long-standing traditions to remain at the forefront of imaginative pen and pencil design for the future. This eloquent testimony to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of Cartier's designers and craftsmen will be essential to collectors of writing instruments and to all those interested in jewelry and the decorative arts.

This collectible luxury volume features the master jeweler’s most exquisite objects reproduced in color at actual size and including detailed technical specifications. Presented in a luxurious silk slipcase with ribbon closure, this tome is a tribute to the most precious objects in the Cartier Collection: from opulent gold and black enamel vanity cases set with platinum and rose-cut diamond fleurons to intricate Chinese powder compacts and diamond-encrusted platinum and onyx cuff links, these creations are works of art. This handsome volume recounts the history of the House of Cartier and its sublimation of often everyday items, illustrated with more than 550 pieces along with rare archival material.