I’ve mentioned before that I’m likely the world’s worst prognosticator. And yet, here I am again – even volunteering this time – to tackle the question of what best Cartier replica watches has in store for us in 2024.
Cartier might be the most challenging brand to predict because their horological strengths aren’t restricted solely to traditional watchmaking. As a grand jewelry Maison, I’ve seen some of the most incredible gem-setting on everything from Jean Cocteau’s sword for his induction into the Académie Française to “Tutti Fruitti” wristwatches that harken back to the days of cocktail Cartier fake watches for sale (and they should bring those back, by the way). This complicates things for me, an average joe whose feeble gem-less brain can’t fully comprehend the creativity of Cartier.
I would have never imagined UK AAA replica Cartier Baignoire Allongée watches with a studded case. A Tiger-striped gem-set Crash? It was too incredible for me to have imagined. A soft cushion-shaped watch that squishes when you press on it? What are we even talking about anymore? Even the Baignoire bangle from last year was, for me, out of left field.
Last year, I was all about the Privé collection Tank Normale. It’s the quintessential Normale, and while it knocked my socks off, I sort of knew it was coming, so I kept my mouth shut until the reveal. With no such inside information and barely enough creativity in my pinky finger to predict anything, I’m going to use all that juice – and my gut feelings – to make one prediction.
This is the year of the Cartier Maxi Oval.
Since 2015, the Privé collection has been a perfect platform to tease out iconic models like the Cloche, Tonneau, Cintrée, and Crash. The Pebble joined the Cartier lineup in 2022 as one of the few shapes Cartier hadn’t revisited since its original release, breaking a 50-year streak. What hasn’t come back is the Maxi Oval.
A brief hedge here to say that this is the 25th Anniversary of the (ahem – putting on my best French accent) Collection Privée Cartier Paris Tortue Monopoussoir, one of the most iconic and beloved cheap Cartier copy watches of the last quarter century. That watch itself played off the fact that the Tortue has been a platform for interesting vintage single-button chronographs in the past and at least two examples of vintage minute repeaters from the 1920s. Looking at how Cartier has treated their recent releases – liking to iterate with at least skeletonizations and sometimes complications – it’s possible that what we’re due is a resurgence of the Tortue. That’s probably the logical guess. But I’m betting on – or maybe rather hoping for – a Maxi Oval. And while it’s technically a Baignoire Allongée, what we haven’t seen since their run that started during the Swingin’ Sixties is a true Maxi Oval.
The luxury replica Cartier Maxi Oval watches has had the closest thing to a “moment” it’s ever seen. Phillips sold a New York Maxi Oval last year for $120,650, and Christie’s got nearly the same price for one from London. Monaco Legend Group auctioned a London Maxi Oval (the version to have) in the spring of 2023 with an all-in price of €273,000, landing in a prominent Cartier collection. A year and a half prior, MLG sold a gray dial, white gold London Maxi Oval for €364,000 – something that now feels like a steal for a unique touch of Jean-Jacques Cartier’s London shaped-watch genius.
Let’s get the apocryphal elephant in the room out of the way: a melted Maxi Oval was not the origin of the Crash. That doesn’t make any difference to me. What our good ol’ buddy JJ Cartier – as I’ve just decided to call him – did best was shaped Swiss made Cartier super clone watches. My apologies to my friends who own them, but watches like the Ceinture do very little in the shadow of the Maxi Oval. Similarly, the Crash is another tier above. What the Cintrée offers, specifically in contrast to the aforementioned, is an uninterrupted history since 1921. But that doesn’t make the Maxi Oval a bad watch.
A new Maxi Oval, respecting the 30mm by 57mm sizing of an original 60s or 70s model, would have an incredible wrist presence. I recently got to see a London Maxi Oval from 1968 near a newer Baignoire Allongée and realized that the latter would never work for me. It’s just too skinny and short. The Maxi Oval is a cuff, very similar to the Cintrée but with Swinging Sixties flare.
What will Cartier do with a new Maxi Oval? I’ve learned not to expect exactly what I want. I would love to see something that is basically a carbon copy of the original, but Cartier always feels a need to tweak their designs to varying degrees of modernization. The Privé Normale in platinum had a silver dial and silver hands (rendering it nearly illegible, mind you), and it certainly felt more modern. The 1:1 wholesale replica Cartier Crash and Cintrée watches came back multiple times in varying forms, but the 2014 Crash Skeleton and 2017 Cintrée Skeleton showed that Cartier isn’t afraid to experiment with historic designs while porting a watch into the modern era.
If I’m correct, I would expect to see a Maxi Oval in yellow gold and platinum, with potentially vertical graining to the dial (like last year’s Americaine) or guilloché like has been seen on past perfect fake Cartier Baignoire Allongée watches examples. It’s possible that they’d play with Arabic numerals on the dial like we’ve seen on the Cintrée as well. Throw in a few gem-set models and maybe a skeleton, and you’ve essentially got what we saw last year with the Normale. You see, I told you my creativity would run out.
What would I like to see? That gray dial at Monaco Legend would be a good start. Whatever happens, with how hot top online Cartier replica watches remains, I doubt I’ll be getting a call for a Maxi Oval. But let it be known that I called shotgun far before anyone else.