CARTIER Must Tank LM Manual Wind cal.78-1 / Vermeil, 1980s

— The long bloodline of the Tank —

More than a century after it was born, the Cartier Tank remains a symbol that has stayed on people's wrists across every era.

It still shines as a current model, and in its antique form it quietly holds the resonance of the past.

A Cartier Must Tank made in the 1980s. A rare black Roman dial. A vermeil LM case, gold over solid sterling silver. Fitted with the traditional manual-wind Cal.78-1, no longer found in current models. The stillness and elegance of a design that has outlasted a century.

— The quiet of the black Roman dial —

Case dimensions 23mm × 30mm. A rare manual-wind model born in the 1980s.

Roman numerals rise from a deep black dial, and pencil hands opening outward draw the whole into balance.

A refinement that only lives in an antique gives it a quiet dignity.

— The resonance of the sterling case —

The Tank case has a certain charm, and once on the wrist its presence is distinctive.

The exterior case is made using vermeil — gold applied over solid silver — for a finish that reads as genuinely luxurious.

A restrained outline close to a boy's size, and the understated bearing of the rare LM type.

Like a mirror reflecting the taste of whoever chose it, it speaks quietly.

— Cal.78-1 —

Cal.78-1 was fitted to the Cartier Must Tank and related models. A manual-wind movement based on the ETA Cal.2512-1, produced from 1976 to around 1983.

A compact 17.2mm diameter design with 17 jewels, running at 21,600 vibrations per hour for stable accuracy.

Measured power reserve is 42 to 44 hours — reliability suited to an antique dress watch.

It has unusual features, including a left-hand-threaded crown wheel, and was a machine Cartier chose with real deliberation at the time.

A rare manual-wind specification seldom found in current models, it offers both the flavour particular to antiques and the resonance of craftsmanship handed down from the past.

— The poetry of the antique —

The combinations of detail vary endlessly; no two are the same. That is exactly where the appeal of an antique lives.

More accessible than a current piece, yet holding the crystallised, high-cost work that the craftsmen of the day poured into it without restraint — and a beauty that belongs to it alone.