A new technical tour de force from Cartier.
The name itself tells you all you need to know. The Cartier Masse Mystérieuse is an enigmatic timepiece, featuring a mechanical mass that magically squeezes the watch’s entire movement in the semi-circle shape of a rotor (also known as an oscillating mass), leaving the other half of the watch empty, and also swings just like you’d expect rotor to.
Housed in 43.5mm platinum with diamond-set options, the Masse Mystérieuse amalgamates two of Cartier’s horological signature offerings in a single wristwatch – skeletonised movement decoration and ‘mystery’ time display inspired by the Maison’s famous Mystery Clocks that indicate the time with hands that appear to float in a vacuum. A technical feat that took eight years to develope, including a total of seven prototypes of the movement itself, the Masse Mystérieuse has been hailed by Cartier as one of its most technically complex creations ever.
The star of the show is, of course, the in-house Calibre 9801 MC. A mesmerising combination of kinetic mechanical art and innovative micro-engineering, the movement packs all its movement components into a semi-circular housing and lays them bare for the wearer to admire.
Unlike how things are on a regular movement with a base plate, here, the going train, interlocking wheels and gears, and the whirling balance within the escapement move en masse (excuse the pun) within the rotor shaped housing, as it swings in tandem with the wearer’s wrist – while that the same time actually performing its timekeeping duties from energy transmission to rate regulation.
Also, in spite of the mechanical drama, the movement’s precision isn’t sacrificed for ostentation, as it features a unique construction to ensure that the balance wheel – the component that orchestrates the heartbeat of the watch – always remains at the same vertical position. Meantime, the hour and minute hands appear to float in space. In reality, they are connected to the movement via a sophisticated differential system that is said to be inspired by those used in the automotive industry.
Last but certainly not least, the entire technical undertaking is made possible by Cartier’s clever use of multi-layered sapphire discs to complete the illusion of space and weightlessness. Besides the two sapphire discs on the upper dial and caseback, are four separate discs – one each to hold the hour hand, the minute hand, the movement, and a fixed wheel around which the movement rotates.
Conceptually, architecturally and visually, this watch is a mind-boggling experience that stops you in your tracks and makes you wonder just how it is supposed to work. A true masterpiece that cements Cartier as a trailblazer in contemporary watchmaking.
