Cartier introduced the Tank in 1917. The design of the Tank was inspired by the Renault FT-17 tanks: Cartier took the look of this tank’s treads and applied it to the lugs, which were integrated via “brancards” into the case itself.
Plenty happened with Cartier and the Tank during the middle part of the twentieth century, and it would be impossible to write an exhaustive history of every Tank variation here. One important version was the Tank Cintrée, introduced in 1921, characterized by an elongated and curved case.
The first Tank Américaine was released in 1989, as a response to the changing tides of watch trends: the late 1980s and early 1990s were the beginning of the era of large watches. The watch was clearly inspired by the Tank Cintrée, with its curved case and curved chapter ring, but it differed in a number of ways. One important distinction is that the reverse of the case has a flat caseback instead of the curved caseback of the Cintrée. It was actually proposed in two different versions (with small seconds at six o’clock or with a moon phase), both with quartz movements.
But the real important news came in 1993 with the introduction of the large Tank Américaine, fitted with the mechanical 430MC caliber, in yellow gold and white gold. The 430MC is the name in the context of Cartier of the famous Piaget 430P extra flat movement. Those models (ref. W2601256 in yellow gold) are probably the most collectible Tank Américaines and the best alternative to the original Tank Cintrées from the 1920s.
C91xxx is a very nice example from 1995, in excellent condition, presented with its original papers & box. It has a very nice “guilloché” dial, a black leather strap and an original solid gold Cartier buckle.
