Cartier Tank à Guichets Returns with a Bold Revival of the 1928 Jumping Hour Classic

The Cartier Tank à Guichets is a brilliant addition to the Tank family, giving it not just another unique complication with a jumping hours, but also one that looks like nothing else within the recent Tank family. Guichets translates to windows in French, and, aptly so, because the Tank à Guichets breaks the mould of traditional time indication by separating its display into two windows on an otherwise clean surface, one for the hours and the other to display the minutes.

Although this style of Tank watch is quite the departure from the contemporary Tank design, which includes the use of blue sword-style hands and the signature Roman numerals, it is not entirely new. The Privé collection draws from the rich history of Cartier; the Tank à Guichets first made its debut back in 1928. The idea behind it stemmed from Louis Cartier’s never-ending quest for simplicity, and because by that time, with the increase in trains and cars, speed played an increasing role in daily life, prompting the need to also read time faster.

Cartier created quite a number of these models throughout the 1930s, but in more recent memory, the last time the Tank à Guichets made an appearance was in 2005. This was part of the Collection Privée Cartier Paris in a limited edition of only 100 pieces in rose gold. This year, however, the Tank à Guichets is back in force, with the first reference mirroring the version launched in 2005, but this time in rose gold, yellow gold and platinum. The hand-wound calibre 9755MC, with jumping hours and creeping minutes, was made specifically for this timepiece. Thankfully, it seems like these watches will be in limited production quantities, but not limited editions.

Those who crave a more exclusive version of the Tank à Guichets, however, can look to yet another platinum version of the reference, but with a slightly skewed display configuration. This is quite reminiscent of the vintage driver’s watches that had a slightly rotated dial arrangement so the time could be read while the wearer’s hands firmly grip the steering wheel. This version of the watch, however, is limited to only 200 numbered pieces.

Although these watches are all simple time-only watches, due to the case material, they still sit at the upper echelons of Cartier watchmaking. For those looking for a more affordable Tank, they also launched a new Tank Louis Cartier in a larger size.

This story was first seen as part of the WOW #79 Summer 2025 Issue

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