Cartier Love Bracelet, 4 Diamonds (18k yellow gold)

Three o'clock in the morning

In 1969 Aldo Cipullo, a 34-year-old Italian designer in New York, lay awake after a broken love affair. 'It was 3 o'clock in the morning, I was feeling very sad and I wanted something nobody could take away from me,' he said at the time. He wanted, he said, 'a permanent symbol of love.'

What he drew was a flat, oval gold bangle with screw heads around it. The screws are real, and the bracelet closes only with a small screwdriver, so one person has to lock it onto another. Cipullo had a growing interest in hardware, which he saw as the gleaming emblem of New York's industry. One account adds that he was thinking of a chastity belt. Cartier still describes the bracelet by its 'radical, innovative motif that dares to show its screws.'

Cipullo first showed the idea to Tiffany, where he worked, and Tiffany turned it down. He left and took it to Cartier. Cartier's New York branch was then independent of the Paris house and run by Michael Thomas, who saw at once that the bracelet could speak to a new generation.

Aldo Cipullo

Cipullo was born in Naples 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. He loved everything American, and his blue jeans and Stetson earned him the nickname 'Aldo Americano.' He reached the United States in 1959, worked for the jeweler David Webb, then moved to Tiffany.

Two years after the Love, he designed the Nail bracelet, now sold as Juste un Clou. Cartier took the unusual step of letting him sign his work. In 1974 he left to run his own company, Aldo Cipullo Limited. In 1978 the American Gem Society invited 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 of a heart attack in a New York hospital in 1984, at 48. For years his name was known mostly to jewelry specialists. It returned to public view in 2012, when Cartier relaunched Juste un Clou with a New York event and began crediting both designs to him.

New York, 1969

The Love arrived in a year of upheaval. Richard Nixon was sworn in as president, the Stonewall riots began in New York, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, and the Woodstock festival was held in upstate New York. In October, 15 million Americans joined the Moratorium against the Vietnam War, and in December the first draft lottery since World War II was held.

Cartier was also selling a very different kind of love token. In October 1969 the firm sold a 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the first diamond to sell for more than $1 million. The plain gold Love bracelet stood at the other end of the market. One account says the bracelet quickly drew international attention after it was presented to celebrated couples, including Taylor and Burton and Ali MacGraw and Steve McQueen.

From plain gold to four diamonds

Cartier added diamond-set Love bracelets in 1979. On the four-diamond classic model, four brilliant-cut diamonds sit in place of four of the screw motifs around the bangle. On B6070017 the four stones total 0.42 carat in 18k yellow gold. Cartier notes that carat weight, number of stones and dimensions vary with the size ordered. The same bracelet is sold in pink gold (B6069917) and white gold (B6070117).

Cartier has gone much further since. Pavé versions arrived in 2009. Cartier has also offered ceramic, colored-stone and cuff versions, a thin model with a hinge and one screw, a medium size, and a single-screw classic. In September 2025 Cartier introduced Love Unlimited, a flexible version with a new clasp. The four-diamond classic remains the step between the plain gold bracelet and the more heavily set and pavé models.

In 2006 The New York Times called the Love line the most successful collection in Cartier's history. Cartier has also gone to court against counterfeits. In the 1990s it sued jewelry stores in Manhattan and Puerto Rico that it said were selling fake Love bracelets.

What it costs, and what it brings

This entry is a current-production reference, so its main price is Cartier's own. Archived copies of Cartier's U.S. product page list B6070017 at $11,100 in May and December 2022. By November 2023 it was $11,900, and it stayed there through early September 2025. By October 5, 2025, it had risen to $13,100, and Cartier's site still listed it at $13,100 on October 1, 2026. These are asking prices for a new bracelet, not sales.

Resale prices are lower and depend on condition and completeness. A four-diamond yellow gold Love in size 17 sold through an online jewelry auction on February 28, 2019, for $4,455. That bracelet was missing one screw. The reseller graded its four diamonds at 0.45 to 0.5 carat total, G-H color and VS1-VS2 clarity on the GIA scale.

Cartier's price moves are part of what owners track. A May 2025 report on Cartier's U.S. price changes listed the four-diamond classic in white gold at $12,700, unchanged in that round.

How to read one

Start with the closure. A classic Love has two working screws and comes with a screwdriver. Cartier now also sells versions with a hinge and a single screw that the wearer can open alone. The classic model is 6.1 mm wide. The four-diamond model has four brilliant-cut stones set into the band where screw motifs would otherwise be.

Size matters to the specification. Cartier says carat weight, stone count and dimensions vary with the size ordered, so 0.42 carat describes the reference as listed, not every size. The reference number, B6070017 for yellow gold, identifies the model. The screwdriver is also offered as a necklace, so one partner can wear the key while the other wears the bracelet.

Early Love bracelets were described as gold-plated, while recent ones are solid gold or platinum, and platinum has since been dropped. Cartier's long history of counterfeit cases is one more reason the paperwork, the screwdriver and the box matter on resale.

The numbers

Carat weight

0.42 carat total, 4 brilliant-cut diamonds (varies with bracelet size)

Color and clarity

Not published by Cartier; one resold example was graded G-H, VS1-VS2 by the reseller

Origin mine

Not disclosed by Cartier

Cutter

Not disclosed by Cartier

Metal

18k yellow gold (750/1000)

Width

6.1 mm

Timeline

1. 1935

   Aldo Cipullo is born in Naples.

2. 1959

   Cipullo arrives in the United States and goes to work for David Webb, then Tiffany.

3. 1969

   Cipullo designs the Love bracelet. Tiffany turns it down, and Cartier New York takes it on.

4. Oct 1969

   Cartier sells the 69.42-carat Taylor-Burton diamond, the first diamond to sell for more than $1 million.

5. 1971

   Cipullo designs the Nail bracelet for Cartier, later sold as Juste un Clou.

6. 1974

   Cipullo leaves to found Aldo Cipullo Limited.

7. 1979

   Cartier introduces diamond-set Love bracelets.

8. 1984

   Cipullo dies in New York at 48.

9. 1993

   Cartier sues neighboring stores over counterfeit Love bracelets.

10. 2006

    The New York Times calls Love the most successful collection in Cartier's history; Cartier introduces a Love charity bracelet.

11. 2009

    Pavé diamond Love bracelets are introduced.

12. 2012

    Cartier relaunches Juste un Clou and credits Cipullo publicly.

13. Feb 28, 2019

    A pre-owned four-diamond yellow gold Love, missing one screw, sells at online auction for $4,455.

14. May 27, 2022

    Cartier's U.S. site lists B6070017 at $11,100.

15. Nov 24, 2023

    Cartier's U.S. site lists B6070017 at $11,900.

16. Sep 2025

    Cartier introduces Love Unlimited, a flexible version of the bracelet.

17. Oct 5, 2025

    Cartier's U.S. site lists B6070017 at $13,100.

18. Oct 1, 2026

    B6070017 is still listed at $13,100 on Cartier's U.S. site.

The world in 1969

• Jan 20, 1969

  Richard Nixon is sworn in as the 37th president.

• Jun 28, 1969

  The Stonewall riots begin in New York City.

• Jul 20, 1969

  Apollo 11's lunar module lands on the Moon.

• Aug 15, 1969

  The Woodstock festival opens in upstate New York.

• Oct 15, 1969

  Some 15 million Americans take part in the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam.

• Nov 10, 1969

  Sesame Street premieres.

• Dec 1, 1969

  The first U.S. draft lottery since World War II is held.

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 Love Bracelet, 4 Diamonds (18k yellow gold) is number 65 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 (41 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Tiffany turned down the Love bracelet before Cartier took it.
• Cipullo's love of American style earned him the nickname 'Aldo Americano.'
• The screwdriver is also sold as a necklace, so one partner can wear the key while the other wears the bracelet.
• Cartier let Cipullo sign his work, an unusual step for the firm.
• For decades the designer's name was known mostly to specialists; Cartier began crediting him publicly in 2012.
• In 2006 Cartier launched a Love charity bracelet on a silk cord and donated $150 from each sale.