2610E Cartier CPCP Tortue Minute Repeater

The Tortue case essentially has three neo-vintage titans, of which Cartier owns two. The first is the Monopoussoir, one for CPCP. The second, Patek Philippe’s 5040, has always seemed a slight bit more beautiful and cohesive than the ref. 2646 CPCP QP. But for a minute repeater, there is no near-peer or even equal to this 2610E. This is one of 25 per metal, an early 2000s unicorn that truly helped place Cartier back on the map for enthusiasts.

The original watch the Repeater builds upon now lives in the Cartier collection. Way back in 1928, a well-heeled American stockbroker named XM Audibert ordered a Tortue Minute Repeater. The pomme or Breguet handset is a nod to that original, which sold at Antiquorum in 2002 for just under 1M CHF. Where the Monopoussoir drew on THA, the Minute Repeater came from the renown Renaud & Papi. This, likely because Cartier’s heritage director Carole Forestier had worked there prior to joining Cartier. The brilliance of CPCP was not in Cartier developing their calibres or finishing, but in knowing precisely the right people to bring on to CPCP projects on an individual level.

Incredibly interestingly, the watch was made with two movements, replaced halfway through production. One is a F. Piguet / Blancpain calibre 33, this is latter the Renaud & Papi developed movement. The 33 we normally see in earlier white gold cases. I suspect Cartier simply wanted to get sales going while the R&P calibre was still in development, relying on a well-tested ébauche. The complication was made in yellow, white, and pink gold, each in 25 examples. Strangely, that’s known here, where most all other CPCP are of unknown productions. I’ve always wondered if the Tank Monopusher and Louis Dual Times were similarly tiny, but we’ll never know.

The Tortue Repeater is rarely seen in public. The only auction we have came from Phillips last year, and set an auspicious start hammering at 101K USD. Other than that, they usually trade hands privately. It deserves to be one of the most collected modern or perhaps neo Cartiers made, even if that’s just beginning, it’s not stopping.