This Tank’s looking sharper than ever.
It has been somewhat of a recent tradition for Cartier to flex its design muscles by interpreting past icons through its Privé capsule collection that is launched on top of its regular annual releases. In 2015, it was the sublime Crash that went under the knife. Last year, the Maison gave us new versions of its Tonneau wristwatch from 1906. This year, the Tank Asymétrique gets a makeover with three new iterations, each numbered and limited to just 100 pieces.
Introduced in 1936, the Tank Asymétrique was an offshoot of Louis Cartier’s famous Tank model from 1917, a watch with a case shape that was modelled after the top view of an actual military tank from WW1. The Tank was immensely popular then and has certainly grown in demand over the years, especially when it comes to vintage models. It then comes as no surprise that another vintage model would be reimagined for the modern era.
The Tank Asymétrique is classic and quirky all at once. Designed as a parallelogram, the Tank Asymétrique took the rectangular shape of the Tank and shifted everything 30 degrees to the right, even the numbers on the dial, which made for an intriguing diamond shape.
This latest Tank Asymétrique is anchored by a sleeker and sexier dial, which replaces the traditional ‘pomme’ hands with Cartier’s very recognisable blued steel hands, and features contemporary elongated fonts on the hour numerals. Elsewhere, the crown is set with a diamond or cabochon stone, unlike the original version, which was flat and flushed against the case. Powering the watch is the manual-winding manufacture Calibre 1917 MC.
Three versions are available: pink gold with grey dial and matching strap, yellow gold with champagne dial and brown strap, and platinum with silver dial and grey strap. The first two come with a sapphire cabochon on the crown while the platinum version has a ruby cabochon.
As with previous Privé collections, one should also expect a skeletonised variant of the Tank Asymétrique. Featuring the Calibre 9623 MC, the aforementioned skeleton watch incorporates the indexes and numbers ‘12’ and ‘6’ into the body, as well as a smaller diamond-shaped frame at the centre. Three versions are available—platinum, platinum with diamonds or pink gold. Oozing contemporary pizzazz with that unmistakable off-kilter flair, the new Tank Asymétrique is as eye-catching today as it was when the original first launched.
