Posted 15 years ago
fuzzyanie
(2 items)
I purchased this watch at the Cartier 5th Avenue NYC store in the mid- 1970s. I know it is gold vermeil and is stamped on the back
"PLAQUE ORO 20 M" or "PLAQUE OR 020 M". Does anyone know what it means? Also, it does not say "MUST" on the face like most of the other 70s era tanks I've seen. Is that of any significance? Thanks for your insight.
I am not an expert on Cartier watches, but I used to have a lovely one, and I did some research about 10 years ago...
I remember these Cartier tank watches very well. They were all the rage in the mid-70s. The "Must de Cartier" vermeil watches were introduced in 1976 (according to Wikipedia) but maybe yours is earlier.
Sorry, I have no idea what the Plaque Oro 20M means. It must be something about the composite of gold to silver, but I don't really know.
I own a similar Cartier vermeil tank watch; it my favorite style of all times. I once owned a Cartier 14K gold tank watch but alas it was stolen. The 'Plaque Or G 20M' indicates that the case is solid silver with a 20 micron plating of gold. the concept of "Les Must de Cartier" means something one simply must have! Must de Cartier' was included on tank faces starting in 1972.
Wow, thanks David! That's a lot of good info!
Amazing.
I have a similar watch, the visible differences are yours has a flatter cabochon and mine bears less info in the back. If you bought yours in the mid 70s, do you have an idea when it was actually made?
Thanks
Hi there, I know this is an old thread, but posting as this watch is an incredible missing link! If fuzzyanie is still out there can I ask when exactly this was purchased? Apparently, Cartier NYC released these gold plated Tanks sometime between 1973 and 1976. This was before the "Must De" era when the NYC store was still independent of Paris and London. They were Gold plated over brass, not silver. It was apparently because of the success of these NYC watches that Cartier released the "Must De" tanks in 1977 once the seperate Cartier brands in NYC, Paris and London were reunited. If you have any info on when this was purchased, and potentially a photo of the movement it would be great to hear. There are a few of these around, but I'm not sure how much people appreciate the impact they had on the Cartier brand in general. Later in 1982 they started including quartz movements in the Must De series, but this I assume is probably a manual 78-1 movement.
Hi, I have an old tank Tricolor watch. I bought it on second hand at a small local watch shop in Tokyo but the face seems to be replaced as there’s only Tricolor pattern, no logo at all. And the wristband is not the original either. Does anyone know if it’s still valuable? I overwound it but I’m not sure if I should repair or not worth it as the cost is quite high. Thanks,
Hello! I bought the same Cartier Tank . I open a new discussion.
The caliber is ETA 2512-1