ON THE WRIST: Cartier Calibre de Diver Watch

W7100057/3729

Goldsmiths / Meadowhall, Sheffield 26th January 2019

Whenever people ask me why I only own TAG Heuer watches, I always say it's because everything else that I really like is way too expensive. For the most part that's true, but now and again I come across the odd thing that, while not exactly inexpensive, is at least reasonably attainable. I've tried on a couple of Bell and Ross models which were around the £2-3000 price mark, and a couple of Breitlings that were more like £6-7000, but most surprisingly of all perhaps I've now tried on two Cartiers one of which I really liked (the Cartier Santos Carbon) and then there's this one...

I've been mildly intrigued by the Carter Calibre de Diver ever since I saw a photo of a rose gold version on the cover of QP magazine, in fact I saw one in Watchfinder (Canary Wharf) once but I didn't get to try it on at the time. So when I spotted this one in the pre-owned cabinet in Goldsmiths I thought now would be a good time to strap it on and check it out.

I didn't actually know it was available on a bracelet, I'd only previously seen it on a rubber strap (which looks much better in my opinion) so that was interesting... albeit I wasn't overly impressed with the design of it to be honest. It doesn't really strike me as very luxurious, in fact it looks a bit rudimentary... it's hard to explain why that is, but it gave me the impression that it could have come off a £500 watch. I'm not talking about the quality, just the design, it's a bit blocky and basic.

But leaving that aside, this is quite a nice looking piece, albeit it looks quite different (i.e. worse) in steel rather than rose gold. Then again, I have to say that the steel is infinitely preferable to the two tone version which really does look a bit of a dog's dinner if I'm completely honest. Some of you might be surprised that Cartier even make a watch like this, and that would be completely understandable. Cartier is a brand whose image is almost completely tied to the 'Tank' and the 'Santos' (which is basically a square 'Tank' anyway) and to a lesser extent the 'Crash', anything else they make is rather weak in the market and subsequently watches like this can be had for fairly reasonable prices.

Confusingly, in the store Goldsmith's price was somewhere in the £5500 region but on their website it says the list price is £5800, with a pre-owned price of £4495. However, Bucherer are currently listing this one at £7300, so unless this one's very old or the price has rocketed in recent years I don't know what's going on there!

Overall the watch was in good condition, albeit the ceramic bezel looked a little worn. I've noticed this recently on used watches with ceramic bezels, they might not scratch as such, but they do seem to wear on the edges. I don't know if it's possible to polish them back to their original state or not but it's worth looking out for if you are in the market.

This Cartier is water rated to 300M, making it a pukka dive watch - though I can't really imagine too many of these getting strapped on over a wetsuit, especially with the butterfly clasp fitted here. Both the Cartiers I have tried on have had these kind of clasps and I can't say that I'm a fan. I'm also not keen on the date window here, I know it's not unique to Cartier, TAG do much the same thing on some of the older Carreras, but it's never made sense to me. I'm also not crazy about the small seconds at the 6 position, and yet... overall, there's still something about this watch that I kinda like.

The watch felt okay on the wrist, it's not massively thick, but then again it somehow doesn't really feel like a Cartier somehow. It feels like any old steel watch with the Cartier name on it, which is not great. And I can't help thinking that if I was going to go for a Cartier Diver, I would splash the extra cash for the black/rose gold model. This one (above) is 'new' on Chronext with a two year warranty for £7940 and looks so much better! But then again, for that money you could get the Santos Carbon or any number of really cool TAG Heuers...