Description
The Cartier Santos Medium W2SA0016 holds a unique position in watchmaking history as the world’s first purpose-built aviator’s wristwatch — created in 1904 by Louis Cartier for Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, who required a timepiece readable during flight without removing his hands from the controls. The watch introduced the exposed screw on the bezel as a functional and subsequently iconic design element, a detail that has defined the Santos’s visual identity across twelve decades of continuous evolution. The current Santos de Cartier, reintroduced in 2018 with a refined case architecture and the QuickSwitch interchangeable strap system, represents the most technically developed generation of the reference, and the medium two-tone stainless steel and yellow gold configuration is among the most historically faithful — closest in spirit to the original, which also combined two materials in its construction.
The medium stainless steel case carries a yellow gold bezel secured by eight polished yellow gold screws — the Santos’s defining decorative and structural motif. The white silvered dial presents bold black Roman numerals, a fine inner railroad minute track, and blued-steel sword hands with a sapphire cabochon crown. The integrated bracelet alternates stainless steel and yellow gold links in matching two-tone construction, with a double-blade deployant clasp. Caliber 1847 MC, automatic, powers the movement.
*This timepiece comes with an additional leather strap, original white hang tag, buckle, and screwdriver.
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