Cartier Juste un Clou Bracelet (18k yellow gold)

A nail and a sleepless night

The bracelet began as the Nail. Two years after he designed the Love bracelet for Cartier New York in 1969, Aldo Cipullo turned to hardware again. According to his biographer, he lay awake one night reading a book on Christianity and became consumed by the idea that the greatest gift a man can give is to lay down his life for a friend. The rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar was a hit at the time. Within twenty-four hours he had designed a collection built around the humble nail, with smaller pieces based on nuts, bolts, screws and wrenches.

Cartier today says only that the piece was 'designed for Cartier New York in the 1970s,' a simple nail turned into jewelry. Most other accounts date the original to 1971. 'My second home is the hardware store,' Cipullo said in those years. A writer on contemporary jewelry notes that artists of the same decade also made jewelry from real tools, including a wrench pendant in 1975 and a can-opener bracelet in 1977. It was part of a wider push to make humble objects precious.

The design is exactly what the name says: a single nail, with its head at one end and its point at the other, bent into an open bangle. Original bangles from the early 1970s are signed both Cartier and A. Cipullo.

Aldo Cipullo

Cipullo was born in 1935 and grew up in Rome, the eldest of five children. His father ran a costume jewelry business and sent him out after school with a bag of jewelry to sell. Sources disagree on where he was born: his biographer says Naples, while one auction catalog calls him Roman-born. He loved everything American, and his blue jeans and Stetson earned him the nickname 'Aldo Americano.' He reached New York in 1959 and worked for the jeweler David Webb, then for Tiffany.

When Tiffany turned down his idea for the Love bracelet, he took it to Cartier New York. The branch was then independent of the Paris house and run by Michael Thomas. The Nail came next. Cipullo kept his own studio throughout his Cartier contract. In 1974 he left to run his own company, Aldo Cipullo Limited, and that year he won a Coty Award for his influence on men's jewelry. In 1978 the American Gem Society asked him to design a collection set only with gems native to the United States. It toured the country and went to the Smithsonian.

Cipullo died in New York on February 2, 1984, at 48. For decades his name was known mostly to jewelry specialists. That changed in 2012, when Cartier revived the Nail and publicly credited both it and the Love bracelet to him.

New York, 1971

The Nail comes from the same New York moment as the Love bracelet. Hardware stood for the city's industrial core, and the jewelry was meant for everyday wear, by men as well as women. Cipullo's biographer says his gift was to capture the energy of New York in the late 1960s and 1970s in minimalist forms.

1971 was a restless year. Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 went to the Moon, and on the second mission astronauts drove the first Lunar Roving Vehicle. The Nasdaq Composite index started trading in February. The Twenty-sixth Amendment lowered the U.S. voting age to 18. Richard Nixon announced that he would visit China, Walt Disney World opened in Florida, and Greenpeace was founded in Vancouver. The Vietnam War went on while U.S. troop numbers fell.

Reborn as Juste un Clou

Cartier relaunched the design in April 2012 under the name Juste un Clou, 'just a nail.' One account links the relaunch to Cartier's 165th anniversary. The collection came in 18k yellow, white or pink gold, plain or set with diamonds, in large and small sizes. At launch, the pieces cost from $2,175 to $34,000.

The launch took place in New York. An exhibition called 'Cartier & Aldo Cipullo, New York City in the 70s' ran at the Cartier Mansion at 653 Fifth Avenue from April 13 to May 8, 2012. Guests included Jason Wu, Lily Collins, Karlie Kloss, Charlotte Casiraghi, Lou Reed and Cipullo's brother Renato, and the after-party was modeled on Studio 54. 'It's like being in a time capsule,' Wu said.

The bracelet soon appeared on screen. In Pedro Almodóvar's 2013 film I'm So Excited, the character Alba, played by Paz Vega, wears an extra-large Juste un Clou. When she is taken to a psychiatric hospital, her mother pulls it off her wrist and remarks that sharp objects are not allowed inside.

What it costs, and what it brings

This entry covers a bracelet still in production, so its main price is Cartier's asking price for a new one. Before Cartier's increase of April 18, 2023, the plain yellow gold bracelet was reported at $7,500 in the United States, and after it, $8,000. The price did not change in Cartier's May 2025 round. It rose 8.7 percent to $8,700 in the U.S. increase of September 25, 2025. On October 1, 2026, Cartier's U.S. site still listed B6048217 at $8,700, with white gold at $9,300 and pink gold at $8,700.

Resale prices are far below retail. A classic yellow gold bracelet in size 17, stamped Cartier and Au750 but sold as not authenticated, brought $3,294 in an online jewelry auction that ended February 9, 2026.

Vintage pieces are a separate market. In 2014, a circa-1971 yellow gold bracelet and a nail ring were offered together at auction with an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. The bangle was signed Cartier and A. Cipullo, the ring only A. Cipullo. In April 2024, a single yellow gold Juste un Clou bracelet was offered at auction in New York with an estimate of $9,750 to $11,700. These are estimates, not sales.

How to read one

The classic model is a single bent nail in 18k gold, 3.5 mm wide in size 17. Cartier sells it in sizes from 15 to 20 cm and notes that dimensions vary with the size ordered. Cartier also publishes care and adjustment instructions for this bracelet.

Check the stamps. A modern example carries the Cartier signature, the size, a serial number and Au750, the mark for 18k gold. The size 17 bracelet resold in 2026 was stamped '©Cartier 17' with a serial number and a maker's mark. Early 1970s bangles are signed both Cartier and A. Cipullo.

Don't confuse the classic model with the small model. The small model is a thinner bracelet that sells for much less: $4,180 in yellow gold after September 2025. The classic bracelet also comes in diamond-set versions.

The numbers

Carat weight

None; plain gold with no stones

Color and clarity

Not applicable

Origin mine

Not applicable; Cartier does not disclose the source of its gold

Cutter

Not applicable

Metal

18k yellow gold (750/1000)

Width

3.5 mm (size 17)

Timeline

1. 1935

   Aldo Cipullo is born. He grows up in Rome.

2. 1959

   Cipullo arrives in the United States and works for David Webb, then Tiffany.

3. 1969

   Cipullo designs the Love bracelet for Cartier New York.

4. 1971

   Cipullo designs the Nail bracelet for Cartier New York. Early bangles are signed Cartier and A. Cipullo.

5. 1974

   Cipullo founds Aldo Cipullo Limited and wins a Coty Award for men's jewelry design.

6. 1978

   The American Gem Society commissions Cipullo's collection of American gems, which later goes to the Smithsonian.

7. Feb 2, 1984

   Cipullo dies in New York at 48.

8. Apr 13, 2012

   The exhibition 'Cartier & Aldo Cipullo, New York City in the 70s' opens at the Cartier Mansion as the design is relaunched as Juste un Clou.

9. May 8, 2012

   The relaunch exhibition closes.

10. 2013

    Paz Vega wears an extra-large Juste un Clou in Pedro Almodóvar's I'm So Excited.

11. Jun 2014

    A circa-1971 Cipullo nail bracelet and ring are offered together at auction, estimated at $3,000 to $5,000.

12. Apr 18, 2023

    Cartier raises the U.S. price of the yellow gold bracelet from $7,500 to $8,000.

13. May 14, 2025

    In Cartier's May 2025 price round, the classic yellow gold bracelet stays at $8,000.

14. Sep 25, 2025

    Cartier raises the U.S. price to $8,700.

15. Feb 9, 2026

    A pre-owned classic yellow gold bracelet in size 17 sells online for $3,294.

The world in 1971

• Feb 5, 1971

  Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.

• Feb 8, 1971

  The Nasdaq Composite index debuts in the United States.

• Jul 5, 1971

  The Twenty-sixth Amendment lowers the U.S. voting age from 21 to 18.

• Jul 15, 1971

  Richard Nixon announces his 1972 visit to China.

• Jul 31, 1971

  Apollo 15 astronauts make the first drive in the Lunar Roving Vehicle.

• Aug 1, 1971

  40,000 people attend the Concert for Bangladesh in New York.

• Oct 1, 1971

  Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.

• Oct 14, 1971

  Greenpeace is founded in Vancouver.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Cartier Juste un Clou Bracelet (18k yellow gold) is number 70 of 100 in the jewelry entries of the FLOAT 100. 44 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (44 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Cipullo said the idea came to him during a sleepless night reading about Christianity. He designed the whole nail collection, with nuts, bolts, screws and wrenches, within twenty-four hours.
• Original 1970s Nail bangles carry two signatures: Cartier and A. Cipullo.
• Lou Reed was among the guests at the 2012 New York relaunch.
• In Almodóvar's I'm So Excited, a mother pulls a Juste un Clou off her daughter's wrist because 'sharp objects' are not allowed in the hospital.
• Cipullo once said, 'My second home is the hardware store.'
• Cartier left the classic gold bracelet's U.S. price unchanged in May 2025, then raised it 8.7 percent four months later.