Cartier Pebble

A circle and a square

In the early 1970s Cartier London was the most adventurous of the three Cartier houses. Paris, New York and London had operated largely independently for decades, each with its own designers and clients, and under Jean-Jacques Cartier the London branch on New Bond Street had become known for shaped watches that broke the rules: the Crash in 1967, the Maxi Oval in 1969, the Double Strap in 1970.

The Pebble came next. It officially reached the market in 1972, five years after the Crash. Where the Crash was all distortion, the Pebble was pure geometry: a circular gold case holding a square dial turned on its point, so that a corner of the dial sits at 12 o'clock. The edges of the square are softened so the dial seems to float inside the round case. One auction catalog called it 'deceptively simple,' built on the two most basic shapes there are.

Its shape gave it its names. In Britain collectors called it the Pebble, for its smooth rounded case; in the United States it is sometimes called the Baseball.

Made by hand in Clerkenwell and Bond Street

Jean-Jacques Cartier ran Cartier London from the 1940s into the 1970s, and together with his head designer, Rupert Emmerson, he was behind the London shaped watches of the period. The Pebble's cases were made by hand at Wright & Davies, the Clerkenwell workshop that also built the Crash, most likely by a craftsman named Sam Mayo, according to the Cartier family's own history site.

Each watch took several months to complete. The case, dial, hands and sapphire cabochon winding crown were made by hand and then assembled at 175 New Bond Street. Inside went a small manual-wind Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber P838 with a Glucydur balance. The case was only about 5.3 mm thick and came on a leather strap.

The Pebble was offered in two sizes, a larger one for men and a smaller one for women, in yellow gold and in white gold. A rarer version, now called the 'Turtle,' has rounded lugs that stand out from the case instead of tucking underneath it.

London at the end of an era

The Pebble belongs to the tail end of the creative London of the 1960s, when fashion and design were throwing off convention and Cartier London had the freedom to experiment. That independence did not last: by the late 1970s the three Cartier houses were reunited under one company, and the era of London's handmade one-off shapes came to an end.

The world outside was turbulent. 1972 was the year of Bloody Sunday in Derry, Richard Nixon's visit to China, the Watergate break-in and the Munich Olympics. In that climate a small, quiet, almost abstract gold watch made in tiny numbers in London went largely unnoticed for half a century.

How many, and where they went

Nobody knows exactly how many Pebbles were made. According to Francesca Cartier Brickell, Jean-Jacques Cartier's granddaughter and the family's historian, only six of the large size are believed to exist: five in yellow gold with cream dials and one in white gold with a black dial. Only two Turtles are known, and the number of small Pebbles is unclear. One auction catalog put it at around six examples; another said fewer than ten of its size and color were believed to have been made. Cartier keeps examples in its own collection, which helped it recreate the watch.

For decades the Pebble was obscure. That changed in 2021. On May 9, 2021, in Geneva, a large yellow gold Pebble from about 1972, case number 1402 with matching numbers on case and clasp, estimated at CHF 50,000 to 100,000, sold for CHF 403,200, reported at roughly $405,000. A month later in London, one of the two known Turtles, hallmarked 1975, sold for £225,250, roughly $254,000.

On December 14, 2022, in London, a third large Pebble came up for sale, offered by the man who had bought it. He recalled purchasing it in the early 1970s directly from Cartier London, together with a small version at the same time. Estimated at £150,000 to 200,000, it sold for £239,700, roughly $290,000.

What to look for, and the reissue

A London Pebble has a round 18k gold case of about 35 mm, with a cream square dial set on the diagonal, black Roman numerals and blued steel sword hands, a beaded crown with a sapphire cabochon, and a manual-wind Jaeger-LeCoultre movement signed on the movement while the dial is signed Cartier. The case carries a London hallmark, and examples are stamped 'JC' for Jean-Jacques Cartier; the 2022 example's 18k gold deployant clasp was stamped JC and numbered 1270.

In 2022, for the model's 50th anniversary, Cartier released a reissue, reference WGPB0003, limited to 150 numbered pieces. It is slightly larger at 36 mm and 6.29 mm thick, adds Cartier's hidden signature in the VII numeral, the modern logo and 'Swiss Made' on the dial, and swaps the old LeCoultre movement for Cartier's ultra-thin manual-wind caliber 430 MC. Its price at launch was reported at approximately $44,700.

The reissue makes it easy to tell old from new: a vintage London Pebble has no 'Swiss Made' line, no hidden signature in the VII, and carries London hallmarks from the early 1970s.

The numbers

Case

18k gold, about 35 to 35.5 mm diameter (sources differ slightly), about 5.3 mm thick

Movement

Jaeger-LeCoultre caliber P838, manual wind, Glucydur balance

Production years

London hallmarks between 1972 and 1975

Known large examples

About six (five yellow gold, one white gold)

Turtle variant

Two known

2022 reissue

Ref. WGPB0003, 150 pieces, 36 mm, caliber 430 MC

Timeline

1. 1967

   Cartier London launches the Crash, opening its era of shaped watches.

2. 1969

   The Maxi Oval follows.

3. 1970

   The Double Strap follows.

4. 1972

   The Pebble officially reaches the market from Cartier London.

5. 1975

   A rare Turtle version with exposed lugs is hallmarked in London.

6. May 9, 2021

   A large yellow gold Pebble from about 1972 sells in Geneva for CHF 403,200, against an estimate of CHF 50,000 to 100,000.

7. Jun 2021

   One of two known Turtles, from 1975, sells in London for £225,250.

8. 2022

   Cartier issues a 150-piece reissue, ref. WGPB0003, for the 50th anniversary.

9. Dec 14, 2022

   A 1972 Pebble offered by its original owner sells in London for £239,700.

10. 2024

    Cartier introduces the gem-set Pebble Tigre line.

The world in 1972

• Jan 30, 1972

  Bloody Sunday in Derry, Northern Ireland.

• Feb 21, 1972

  Richard Nixon begins his visit to China.

• Jun 17, 1972

  Five men are arrested in the Watergate break-in.

• Sep 1, 1972

  Bobby Fischer becomes world chess champion in Reykjavík.

• Sep 5, 1972

  Eleven Israeli athletes are murdered at the Munich Olympics.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Cartier Pebble is number 18 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 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 (68 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• In the United States the Pebble is sometimes called the 'Baseball.'
• Each original Pebble took several months to make by hand.
• The 2022 seller bought his Pebble directly from Cartier London in the early 1970s, along with a smaller one.
• The 2021 Geneva example sold for about four times its top estimate.
• Only two 'Turtle' Pebbles, with exposed rounded lugs, are known.
• The original case was only about 5.3 mm thick, thinner than the 2022 reissue.