FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 64
Cartier Tank Louis Cartier
Louis Cartier softened the corners of his own wartime design in 1922, kept the result for himself, and a century later the same gold rectangle is still the watch Andy Warhol said he wore not to tell the time but because it was the watch to wear.
- Year
- 1922-present
- Maker
- Cartier
- By price in watches
- 72 of 100
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- Cartier, Paris
- Introduced
- 1922, five years after the first Tank
- Designer
- Louis Cartier (1875-1942)
- Shape
- Rectangular gold case with rounded brancards (the side rails that form the lugs)
- Signature details
- Roman numerals, blued-steel sword hands, beaded crown with a sapphire cabochon
- Current large model
- Ref. WGTA0011, rose gold, 33.7 x 25.5 mm, 6.6 mm thick
- Current movement
- Cartier manual-wind caliber 1917 MC, 19 jewels, 3 Hz, 38-hour reserve
- U.S. retail
- $15,800 for the rose gold large model (Cartier, 2026)
A tank, rounded off
The Tank began in 1917, when Louis Cartier, the founder's grandson, sketched a watch whose shape echoed the Renault FT-17 tanks on the Western Front: a flat rectangular case running between two vertical rails, the brancards, that double as lugs. The American general John Pershing received an early prototype in 1918, and the first Tanks reached the open market in 1919, when, by one account, six were made.
Within a few years Cartier was already varying the shape. The curved Tank Cintrée appeared in 1921 and the Tank Chinoise in 1922. The same year Cartier introduced the version that would carry his name. The Tank Louis Cartier kept the original's architecture but smoothed it: the dial grew from square toward rectangle, the sides curved, and the brancards were rounded so that one modern guide describes the case as having an almost river-rock smoothness. Sword-shaped hands replaced the earlier pomme hands.
It became Louis Cartier's own watch of choice. One guide notes that it was historically offered only in gold and platinum, which set it apart from the steel and plated Tanks that followed later in the century.
Louis Cartier and the people who wore it
Louis Cartier was born in Paris on June 6, 1875, and died in New York on July 23, 1942. He was the heir to the jewelry house founded by his grandfather, and worked closely with his brothers; from 1909 he and his brother Pierre operated largely from New York, and in 1917, the year of the Tank, they acquired the Cartier Building in New York, formerly owned by Morton Freeman Plant, which became the firm's North American headquarters.
The Tank Louis Cartier's reputation was made on famous wrists. Princess Diana wore one, often on a leather strap, in the late 1980s. Lists of Tank wearers include Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire, Truman Capote, Yves Saint Laurent and Jacqueline Kennedy.
No owner is more closely tied to it than Andy Warhol. He owned three Cartier Tanks and was photographed wearing a Tank Louis often. He is quoted as saying that he did not wear a Tank to tell the time, that he never wound it, and that he wore it because it was the watch to wear.
The world in 1922
The Tank Louis Cartier arrived in a year of beginnings. In January, insulin was used successfully for the first time to treat diabetes in Toronto. In November the British Broadcasting Company began radio service from London, and Howard Carter found the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt. By the end of the year the Soviet Union had been formed and the Irish Free State had come into existence.
A Cartier designer who worked under Jean-Jacques Cartier, who ran the London branch from 1945 to 1974, later summed up the house style as 'the absence of unnecessary twiddly bits.' The house's family historian, Francesca Cartier Brickell, calls the Tank the perfect example of that less-is-more approach, and the Tank Louis Cartier, the plainest and smoothest of the family, shows it most clearly.
A century of production and sales
Unlike many classic designs, the Tank Louis Cartier never really went away. One collecting guide says the model came into its own in the 1960s and 1970s and was made in many metals and dial variants, with hand-wound, quartz and automatic movements, and in relatively large numbers, which makes it the most accessible way to collect vintage Tanks.
Warhol's watches show how far prices have traveled. After his death, 313 watches were found in his New York townhouse and sold at auction in 1988. One of his gold Tanks sold that year for $4,950 and again in 2012, in Chicago, for $10,625. A Tank owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sold in 2017 for $379,500 against a $120,000 high estimate, although that watch has not been identified as a Tank Louis Cartier in the sources used here.
Modern special versions have also done well. A white gold Tank Louis Cartier Sapphire Skeleton, introduced in 2014 with a skeletonized caliber 9616 MC suspended between two sapphire panels, sold in New York in June 2022 for $75,600 against a $15,000 to $30,000 estimate. In June 2026 in New York, a 2023-era yellow gold Tank Louis Cartier, reference WGTA0175, with a three-color brushed gold dial and a matching custom brick bracelet, sold for $85,090 against an estimate of $18,000 to $36,000.
The current production large model, rose gold reference WGTA0011, measures 33.7 by 25.5 mm and 6.6 mm thick, runs on Cartier's manual-wind caliber 1917 MC, and is listed by Cartier in the United States at $15,800.
How to recognize one
The Tank Louis Cartier is identified by its rounded brancards, which flow into the case rather than standing as sharp-edged rails, by its rectangular rather than square dial, and by its sword hands. By tradition it is a precious-metal watch, in gold or platinum.
The current model's details include a beaded crown set with a sapphire cabochon, a silvered dial with painted Roman numerals and a minute track, blued-steel hands and water resistance of 3 bar. Vintage examples vary widely, since the model has been made for a century in many metals, dials and movements, including hand-wound, automatic and quartz versions.
The numbers
- Reference (current large)
- WGTA0011, 18k rose gold
- Caliber
- Cartier 1917 MC, manual wind, 19 jewels, 21,600 vph, 38-hour reserve
- Case size
- 33.7 x 25.5 mm, 6.6 mm thick
- Water resistance
- 3 bar (30 m)
- Introduced
- 1922
- Case materials
- Gold and platinum by tradition; current models in rose and yellow gold
Timeline
Louis Cartier is born in Paris.
Louis Cartier conceives the Tank, inspired by the Renault FT-17.
General John Pershing receives an early Tank prototype.
The first Tanks go on sale; one account says six were made.
The curved Tank Cintrée is launched.
The Tank Louis Cartier is introduced, with rounded brancards and a rectangular dial.
Louis Cartier dies in New York.
Andy Warhol's 313 watches are sold at auction; one of his gold Tanks brings $4,950.
The same Warhol Tank sells in Chicago for $10,625.
Cartier introduces the Tank Louis Cartier Sapphire Skeleton in white gold.
A Tank owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis sells for $379,500.
A white gold Tank Louis Cartier Sapphire Skeleton sells in New York for $75,600.
A yellow gold Tank Louis Cartier WGTA0175 with three-color gold dial sells in New York for $85,090.
The world in 1922
Insulin is used successfully for the first time to treat diabetes, in Toronto.
The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington.
T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land' is first published.
Mussolini's March on Rome brings the Fascists to power in Italy.
Howard Carter finds the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb.
The British Broadcasting Company begins radio service from London.
The Soviet Union is formed.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | $18,000 | Estimate, not a saleYellow gold Tank Louis Cartier WGTA0175 with three-color gold dial: low estimate of $18,000 to $36,000, New York. |
| Jun 2026 | $85,090 | Sold at auctionYellow gold Tank Louis Cartier WGTA0175, circa 2024, on a custom tri-color gold brick bracelet, New York. |
| Oct 2026 | $15,800 | Asking price, not a saleCartier U.S. retail price, rose gold large model WGTA0011. |
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 Tank Louis Cartier is number 72 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 (64 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- Andy Warhol said he never wound his Tank: he wore it because it was the watch to wear.
- 313 watches were found in Warhol's townhouse after his death, some hidden in the canopy above his bed.
- The Tank's shape is said to come from the Renault FT-17 tank of World War I.
- General John Pershing received an early Tank prototype in 1918.
- In 1917, the year he designed the Tank, Louis Cartier and his brother Pierre also acquired the New York building that became Cartier's U.S. headquarters.
- A Tank Louis Cartier with a three-color gold dial estimated at $18,000 to $36,000 sold in 2026 for $85,090.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 3, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026