The journey began with a prelude: the Santos-Dumont Rewind, one of the most exciting timepieces from Watches and Wonders this year. Set on a bold carnelian dial, the watch captures the imagination with its reversed manual winding calibre 320 MC, which tells the time backwards instead of forwards. In his opening remarks at the exhibition’s vernissage, Cartier UK’s managing director Laurent Feniou called the watch “the excuse for the exhibition” and “a mental but beautiful challenge”.
Imaginative and almost magical, the Santos-Dumont Rewind encapsulates a world where anything is possible, which brilliantly channels the pioneering spirit and sense of adventure that is at the heart of the Santos collection and its namesake inspiration: the daring aviator and inventor, Alberto Santos Dumont.
Unsurprisingly, Alberto Santos Dumont was very present in the exhibition, with the first chapter dedicated to some fascinating biographical and archival imagery of the dandy aviator, complete with portraits of him dressed in a three-piece suit and bowler hat, perched in the fuselage of his inventions. In addition to emblematic images and even a miniature model of fin de siècle Paris, there are also Santos Dumont’s creations, such as The Brazil, the smallest aircraft ever made at the time of his first flight in July 1898, and his award winning and record breaking Oiseau de Proie (bird of prey) biplane.
Accompanying these feats of the skies are the wristwatches – and famously the first modern wristwatch designed to be worn specifically on the wrist. The horological journey begins with the 1912 Santos droit wristwatch, the oldest piece in the exhibition as well as the oldest Santos in Cartier’s archives (Louis Cartier produced the watch for Santos Dumos in 1904, but the design was only commercially available in 1911). The piece sat in a display alongside other historic models, dating from 1915-1963, including a super rare piece from 1924 with an unexpected bakelite case.
The exhibition’s second chapter narrates the evolution of this iconic timepiece, from the 1970s to the early 2000s, highlighting changes in shape as well as technical advancements. There was a 1980 Santos de Cartier Ronde with an octagonal shape, lacquer dials from this same period, to the technically innovative Galbée, with its curved case and bracelet. “The Santos was beginning to find its character,” explains Jenny Rourke, Cartier’s London head of archive.
The final chapter, Timeless Modernity, showcases creations from 2004 to 2024. Die-hard fans no doubt loved the limited-edition, centenary Santos 100 pieces, including stunning metiers d’art models featuring an Arabian horse or bejewelled Taj Mahal motif. Many of the watches in this section hail from the Cartier Collection, an array of some 3,500 pieces including watches, jewellery and accessories that date from the 1950s to the late 2000s.
As Feniou summed up of this wonderful Santos show in celebration of Frieze art fair: “This collection is very special for watch collectors and watch aficionados,” he says. “We have the chance to have the whole Santos collection here, in one space.”
