The UK Luxury Cartier Tank Cintrée Replica Watches That Never Was

Posted on by

Sometimes an object is designed in a way that is so perfect there is simply no way it can be improved upon. It becomes the archetype of its category, the very image that flashes into our minds when mentioned. For furniture, that might be a Jean Prouvé 305 Métropole chair or an Eames 670 Lounge chair. For a car, a late ’60s Porsche 911S. Tailored clothing, a 1980s Armani double-breasted suit. And for mechanical high quality replica Cartier watches, you can argue that honor falls to the Rolex Submariner. These objects are so universal to our collective design lexicon that we sometimes forget how truly remarkable they are.

But there is a second watch that jumps to my mind when fantasizing about all-time great watch designs — the 1:1 UK fake Cartier Tank watches, specifically the Tank Cintrée. And not just any Cintrée, but a very special one that was made in the 1930s.

I first saw this drawing in early 2021, in Jack’s post on The 100th Anniversary Cartier Tank Cintrée Limited Edition, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. This best Cartier replica watches has haunted my horological dreams for several reasons.

Firstly, it is a platinum-cased Cintrée with a beautiful salmon dial. The hue of the dial is closer to yellow or gold than red or pink, which I find extremely beautiful against the bright white case. It’s something that it shares with another favorite cheap Cartier copy watches of mine, the Audemars Piguet 15202BC.

Secondly, it features the elements I find the most aesthetically pleasing in a Tank: “Breguet” hands, classic Roman numerals, a chemin-de-fer “railway” minute track, and a sapphire cabochon crown with beading. The drawing is from wholesale replica Cartier watches’ archives in New York and was rendered long before the time of computer-aided design, which makes it all the more beautiful for its charms and eccentricities.

Notice that the drawing features two lug profiles, with one hastily slashed out. There are scribbles and numbers, possibly linking it to a record book, a Cartier stamp in the lower left corner, and a signed “OK” in the top right, likely pointing to final approval of the project by Cartier’s designers. All of these tiny details are important considerations in understanding just how special and handmade these Swiss movements fake Cartier watches are.

Lastly, as written at the top of the drawing, this watch was commissioned by a notable figure, Princess Louise Van Alen Mdivani. Who was Princess Mdivani, I wondered?

Born Louise Astor Van Alen in 1910, Princess Mdivani was the daughter of James Laurens Van Alen, the grandson to a Brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War and the son of Emily Astor, herself descended from one of the richest people in modern history, John Jacob Astor. Her mother was Margaret Post Van Alen, niece of Louise Vanderbilt, who was married to Frederick Vanderbilt, a grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, again one of the wealthiest Americans in history. It goes without saying that this Cartier super clone watches for sale had some serious provenance.

In 1931, Louise married Alexis Mdivani. Alexis was one of three sons from a social-climbing Georgian family that relocated to Los Angeles in the 1920s, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, to find fame and fortune. The three sons and their two sisters were known colloquially as the “Marrying Mdivanis” and they established relationships with actors, artists, professors, business magnates, and royalty across the United States and Europe in hopes of escalating their own status. This excerpt from Neal Gabler in Los Angeles Magazine gives more detail:

I bet you weren’t expecting that name to pop up in this article.

Less than two years after their marriage, Alexis and Louise divorced. Rumors suggested that Alexis had been caught cheating on Louise with Barbara Hutton, an heiress to a large fortune who was considered the richest woman in the world at the time. Tragically, Alexis died a few years later in a car accident. His brother Serge, seeking to possibly right a wrong, married his late brother’s ex-wife and former sister-in-law in 1936. As one of three brothers myself, I have to admit that this is an all-time “getting back at your brother” move.

It was around this time that the AAA Cartier replica watches was ordered and delivered to Princess Mdivani. Given Louise’s rich family history and the Mdivani’s infamous status as Hollywood elite, I expected that a record of this watch’s whereabouts might be easy to find. Yet, I couldn’t find references to it anywhere.

Thorough searches for a salmon dial Cintrée brought up only a few options, all modern and none of which could be mistaken for Princess Mdivani’s watch or any version that was similar.

And there didn’t seem to be anything in the digital catalogs of past auctions. Getty Image searches for Louise Astor Van Alen, and attempts at spotting the top Cartier fake watches on her wrist returned nothing. A message to the HODINKEE Slack seemed to further indicate that no one had ever seen a classic Cintrée born with a salmon dial.

Then it hit me.

I had spent so much time looking at the drawing that I never stopped to consider that the watch was sketched on paper whose color may have degraded over time to that exact shade.

Was the watch I was so captivated by ever made? Or was it simply a sketch of a silver dialed Cintrée on the most perfect shade of salmon paper? I went into detective mode immediately, scouring Cartier books in the office for any potential clues and reaching out to experts on Instagram. Unfortunately, not much popped up, so I had one more place to turn: perfect replica Cartier watches’ amazing archives department.

After a few emails to Cartier explaining the search, I had my answer.

    The watch was produced and delivered to Princess Mdivani in 1935.

    The watch was not born with a salmon dial, it was indeed the paper itself that gave the impression of that color.

I have to admit, part of me was bummed out. The watch I’d obsessed over for more than a year had been a figment of my imagination – I’d never get the chance to experience it in person, nor would anyone else. Of course, Louise’s actual watch might still be out there, which would be lovely to discover, but I still felt like I had just found out Santa wasn’t real. Had Cartier ever made a white metal Cintrée with a salmon dial, I thought?

I went back to the Cartier archives department to inquire once again, hoping that something was out there. Their response: “To the best of our knowledge, and working with the archives department, there are no Cintrée with salmon dials in our records.”

Really? I couldn’t believe it. It seemed that a watch so beautiful had to be made at some point in the past 100 years, but not so. My holy grail of fake Cartier watches store online never existed and as far as we know, still doesn’t. But a dream is hard to let go of so I got to thinking, what if it had? What might the watch made for Louise look like today? Maybe a little something like this …

Hey, Cartier, I have an idea for your next release. In fact, it’s already all sketched out.