NSO Cartier Crash, Pink Gold

I wonder what Jean-Jacques and Rupert Emmerson would think of what the Crash has become. They did things so differently that now, six decades later, we still uphold the Crash as a symbol of creativity, freedom, and elegance. The Crash was born into the swinging-60s. Now, it’s just the Bond Street being made at one example per month and this. This is an NSO Crash, a design commissioned by a client. It’s pink gold and that’s it. A little bit of restraint goes a long way.

There is not one among us who hasn’t heard the apocryphal story of the Crash’s origin; some English gentlemen driving an outrageously fast vehicle through the city center had a wreck and burst into flames, his beautiful Cartier Baignoire now mangled. This almost certainly never happened. However, the truth is perhaps even more interesting. Many speculate that its inspiration is Dalí’s 1931 The Persistence of Memory and melting watches it depicts. This debate is unlikely to end, trust me. More concretely, we know the crash was a design by Jean-Jacques Cartier and designer Rupert Emmerson, intended to capture the rebellious attitude of London’s swinging 1960s when Cartier London were allowed to operate with true creative freedom. They made a watch, but particularly a case, which encapsulated all that was revolutionary. Since then, the Crash has always been made in limited production batches or on a commissioned basis. Nearly every decade has had its own tiny run take on the case shape, from the 1991 smaller case to the 2010’s Radieuse.

The Crash has, more recently, become the scythe that separates Cartier’s best clients from those on the ladder. It is the direct result of immense demand and popularity, from Tyler the Creator to Tom Brady, this is the Cartier of the day. But it was never a watch of the people. That’s in keeping with tradition. What’s interesting about NSO is that they’re no longer rare. There are oddball, interesting, unusual variations of the Crash coming up for sale multiple times per year these days. For an object that was all about creativity and expression for the start, maybe that’s a good thing. Crash collecting in the future is going to be a smashing time.

This example is simply, pure, and one of the more tasteful we've seen recently. It's pink gold, nothing more. Opaline dial with romans and blued steel sword hands. It's a lovely example and there's nothing to complain about. It comes from a well-regarded Malaysian retailer, complete set.