Tank Cintrée (1920s)
Tank Chinois (1920s)
The Cartier Tank was born in 1917, at the dawn of wristwatches. 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the Tank, and an event called "TANK100" looking back on the Tank's historical evolution is being held at the Cartier Boutique in Roppongi Hills until Sunday, November 26th. Katori Shingo's Tank-themed artwork is attracting attention at the event, but the exhibits are also quite substantial.
Text by Yusuke Kikuchi
The history of the tank
To enjoy the exhibition more deeply, let's review the historical background to the creation of the tank.
The Tank design was created in 1917, during World War I. The three Cartier brothers, who were in charge of management at the time, were each sent to the battlefield, which influenced Cartier's creations. Not only were jewelry pieces with motifs such as propeller planes and cannon brooches popular, but the Tank was also born from this trend.
In December 1916, his eldest son, Louis Cartier, found inspiration for a new work on the cover of the French illustrated weekly magazine L'Illustriation, which depicted a Mark I tank, commonly known as the "Tank," manufactured by the Royal Navy under orders from Churchill, crushing the enemy.
World War I also significantly boosted the status of wristwatches. Men appreciated the functionality of being able to tell the time while driving a car or propeller plane, and women who entered society to replace men who went to war began to wear watches on their exposed arms. Thus, the functional wristwatch became a symbol of women entering society.
The design of the Tank was not unrelated to Art Deco. The 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs was an important event that gave rise to the term Art Deco, but the creation of what could be called the Art Deco style had actually been gaining momentum as a sort of "prelude" since around 1900. In fact, Cartier had been working on geometric designs composed of straight lines and arcs that could be considered a precursor to Art Deco since 1906. In 1914, Cartier designed a wristwatch with integrated lugs and middle case as an evolution of the Santos, a shape similar to the current Tank.
In other words, it can be said that the Tank watch was created through the intersection of three trends: the influence of war, the spread of wristwatches, and the eve of Art Deco.
I won't go into details about the exhibit here, but there will likely never be another opportunity to see so many Tank models gathered together. These collection pieces reveal the incredible variety of Tank watches. Perhaps the true essence of the Tank watch lies in its versatility, as seen in the Tank Cintrée, stretched vertically, and the Tank Chinoise, squared.
