Frequently Asked Questions

The Cartiers is available at all major bookstores and online retailers in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats. See the editions page for purchase links by region and edition.

Yes — the audiobook is available on Audible, Apple Books, and other major audiobook platforms.

Yes — ebook editions are available via Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, and other major digital platforms in most countries.

The Cartiers has been published in 12 languages. See the editions page for all editions and purchase links.

The English edition is 544 pages. The Czech edition — published by PROSTOR in 2025 — is 768 pages, the most comprehensive translation available. All editions are listed on the editions page.

Check the Events page for upcoming appearances and talks. You can also follow @creatingcartier on Instagram for the latest announcements.

Yes — Francesca is available for talks, lectures, and events. Please use the contact form selecting "Speaking Engagement" to discuss availability and details.

For permissions to reproduce images, text, or other materials from The Cartiers, please contact the publisher directly (Penguin Random House for English language rights) or use the contact form selecting "Rights & Permissions."

No. While jewelry and watches feature throughout, The Cartiers is primarily a family saga spanning from revolutionary France to the 1970s. It covers four generations of family life, ambition, creativity, and the private history behind a global luxury house.

Absolutely. The book is fundamentally a family saga — about ambition, sibling rivalry, war, love, and loss across four generations. Readers who enjoy social history, biography, or stories of empire-building find it as compelling as those who come for the jewels.

Written by a direct descendant drawing on unpublished family papers, personal correspondence, and interviews with former employees and clients. Where other Cartier books focus on the jewels and watchmaking, The Cartiers tells the human story — four generations of family life, ambition, rivalry, and the private history behind a global luxury house.

Yes — she is a direct descendant, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Louis-François Cartier, the founder. Her great-grandfather was Jacques Cartier, one of the three brothers the book chronicles. Read more on the Author page.

Over a decade of research went into The Cartiers, drawing on unpublished family papers, personal correspondence, diaries, and interviews with former employees, clients, and family members across multiple countries.

The book spans from the mid-nineteenth century — when Louis-François Cartier opened his first workshop in Paris — through to 1974, when the last family member sold the firm. It covers roughly 130 years across four generations of the Cartier family.

The firm was founded in Paris in 1847 by Louis-François Cartier (1819–1904), Francesca's great-great-great-grandfather. He passed it to his son Alfred, who in turn brought in his three sons — Louis, Pierre, and Jacques — who expanded it worldwide. Read more in the glossary entry on Louis-François Cartier.

Louis, Pierre, and Jacques Cartier were the grandsons of Louis-François Cartier. Louis ran the Paris salon and was the creative force behind iconic designs; Pierre built the New York business; and Jacques travelled the world sourcing gems and clients. Together they transformed a Parisian jeweller into a global luxury house in the early twentieth century.

The last family owner was Jean-Jacques Cartier, Jacques's son, who ran the London branch. Due to changing circumstances in the economic crises of the 1970s, the family sold the firm in 1974, ending over a century of family ownership. It is this bittersweet ending that closes The Cartiers.

Yes — Cartier held royal warrants from King Edward VII, who is said to have called them "the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers." The Cartiers explores the relationship between the brothers and the British court in depth, including pieces made for coronations and major royal occasions.

The maharajas of India were among Cartier's most important clients in the early twentieth century. Jacques Cartier travelled extensively to India, building relationships with princely courts and sourcing extraordinary gems. These encounters directly shaped the Tutti Frutti style and are explored in depth in The Cartiers.

Yes — watchmaking was central to the Cartier story. Louis Cartier commissioned the first modern wristwatch in 1904 for aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. The Santos, Tank, Crash, and mystery clocks are all covered in The Cartiers.

Mystery clocks are a Cartier invention in which the hands appear to float in mid-air with no visible mechanism. The secret lies in crystal discs concealed within the hands, rotated by a hidden drive in the base. They became among the most collectible Cartier objects. Read more in the mystery clock glossary entry.

The Tank was designed by Louis Cartier in 1917, inspired by the overhead profile of the Renault tanks crossing the Western Front. It became one of the most enduring watch designs in history. Read more in the Cartier Tank glossary entry.

The Trinity Ring is a design of three interlinked bands in yellow gold, white gold, and rose gold, first created in 1924 — reportedly for the poet Jean Cocteau. Read more in the Trinity Ring glossary entry.

"Tutti Frutti" refers to a style of colourful carved gemstone jewelry pioneered by Cartier in the 1920s, drawing on Indian Mughal traditions. Jacques Cartier's travels to India and his relationships with the maharajas were central to developing this style. Read more in the Tutti Frutti glossary entry.

Yes — when Prince Rainier of Monaco proposed to Grace Kelly in 1956, the engagement ring was from Cartier. The story of the ring is covered in detail on the blog: Grace Kelly's Cartier engagement rings.

Alfred Cartier (1841–1925) was the son of the founder Louis-François and the father of Louis, Pierre, and Jacques — the three brothers who made Cartier a global name. He ran the firm through its critical transition from a small Parisian workshop to an international luxury house, establishing the salon on the Rue de la Paix and laying the foundation for everything that followed.

Jeanne Toussaint joined Cartier Paris in 1915 and became Director of Fine Jewellery in 1933. She oversaw the great animal jewels of the 1940s and 50s — most famously the three-dimensional Panther brooches — and was nicknamed La Panthère by Louis Cartier himself. She is one of the most significant creative figures in Cartier's history.

Jean-Jacques Cartier (1919–2010) was the son of Jacques and the last family member to lead a Cartier branch. He ran Cartier London and was the creative force behind the Crash and Pebble watches — among the most adventurous pieces the house ever produced. He sold the London branch in the 1970s, ending the family's direct involvement. Read more on the blog: Jean-Jacques Cartier 1919–2010.

Charles Jacqueau (1885–1975) was the principal designer at Cartier Paris from 1911 to 1935. Working closely with Louis Cartier, he was responsible for much of the firm's most celebrated visual output across both the Garland Style and Art Deco periods. Although not a family member, his contribution to the Cartier aesthetic was foundational.

Edmond Jaeger was a Parisian watchmaker whose expertise in ultra-thin movements was central to some of Cartier's most elegant early twentieth-century watches. Louis Cartier worked with Jaeger to supply movements for the Santos and other designs. Jaeger later partnered with the Swiss maker LeCoultre, forming the house whose name — Jaeger-LeCoultre — still carries his.

The Garland Style — Style Guirlande in French — was the light, lace-like Belle Époque aesthetic that Cartier perfected around the turn of the twentieth century. It was made possible by the adoption of platinum as a setting metal: stronger and finer than gold, platinum allowed jewellers to create delicate open-work garlands of diamonds that would have been impossible before. Charles Jacqueau was largely responsible for its execution.

In the 1920s and 30s, Cartier embraced Art Deco — a geometric, architecturally inspired aesthetic characterised by bold colour contrasts, strong outlines, and the influence of Cubism, Egyptomania, and Japanese design. Where the Garland Style had been fluid and naturalistic, Art Deco was hard-edged and architectural. Cartier's Art Deco pieces — combining onyx, coral, emeralds, and sapphires in sharp geometric forms — are among its most recognised works.

Serti mystérieux — invisible setting — is a gem-setting technique in which stones are mounted on concealed internal rails so that no metal is visible from above. The gems appear to float in a continuous surface of colour. It is among the most technically demanding settings in jewellery-making and is closely associated with Cartier in the twentieth century.

Guilloché is a decorative engraving technique using a rose engine lathe, producing intricate repeating geometric patterns on a metal surface. Cartier used it as the ground for translucent enamel on watch dials and vanity cases: the engraved pattern beneath the enamel creates a shimmering depth that cannot be achieved on a plain surface.

The Santos is one of the earliest purpose-designed wristwatches in history, created in 1904 by Louis Cartier for the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. Santos-Dumont needed a watch he could read while flying — a pocket watch was impossible to consult in flight — so Louis Cartier designed a wristwatch with a square case and visible screws on the bezel. The design became one of the most iconic in watchmaking history.

The Crash is a deliberately distorted, asymmetric wristwatch produced by Cartier London from 1967 — one of the most unusual designs in watchmaking history. Its melted, stretched form broke entirely with the geometric tradition of Cartier watch design. Jean-Jacques Cartier was responsible for its creation; the story behind its unusual shape is still debated. It became among the most sought-after vintage Cartier pieces.

The Pebble is a rounded, smooth-sided gold wristwatch made by Cartier London in the early 1970s under Jean-Jacques Cartier. Fewer were produced than the Crash, making it rarer and among the most sought-after vintage Cartier London pieces. Like the Crash, it represents the creative independence of the London branch in its final years of family ownership.

The Tonneau — French for barrel — is one of Cartier's classic watch case geometries, dating from the early twentieth century. It is wider at the centre than at the ends, following the curved profile of a barrel stave, giving the watch a distinctive organic silhouette.

The Tortue — French for turtle — is a Cartier watch case shape with curved rectangular sides that taper to the ends, named for its resemblance to a turtle's shell. Like the Tonneau, it dates from the early twentieth century and is one of the most distinctive case geometries associated with the house.

The Calibre 101 is one of the smallest mechanical movements ever made, measuring just 14mm in length. Developed in 1929, it was designed for jewellery watches where the movement had to be concealed within a bracelet, brooch, or ornamental case. Read more in the Calibre 101 glossary entry.

Natural pearls — formed without human intervention inside wild molluscs — were one of the most prized materials in the pre-war luxury trade. A single strand of matched natural pearls could fetch as much as a Parisian mansion. Pierre Cartier in particular was deeply active in the pearl trade. The collapse came in the 1920s and 30s when Japanese cultured pearls flooded the market and prices crashed. Read more on the blog: The Cartiers and the pearl market. See also the webinar: The Cartiers and their Pearls.

The Kokoshnik is a tiara style evoking the traditional Russian headdress worn by noblewomen — characterised by a high, fan-like arched front. Cartier adapted the form for European royal and aristocratic clients from the early 1900s. The Grand Duchess Vladimir diamond Kokoshnik of 1908 is among the most celebrated examples. See also: Cartier diamond Kokoshnik on the blog.

The Panther is Cartier's most celebrated animal motif — three-dimensional brooches, bracelets, and clips in the form of prowling big cats set in diamonds and onyx. The motif became closely associated with Jeanne Toussaint, nicknamed La Panthère by Louis Cartier. The great Panther jewels were produced from the mid-twentieth century and worn by some of the most celebrated women of their time. Read more on the blog: The inspiration behind the Cartier Panthers.

The Russian imperial family and the broader Romanov aristocracy were among Cartier's most significant clients in the early twentieth century. Grand Duchess Vladimir — whose diamond Kokoshnik Cartier made in 1908 — was among the most prominent. The 1917 Revolution brought this relationship to a sudden end. Read more on the blog: The Cartiers and the Romanovs. See also the webinar: The Cartiers and the Romanovs.

Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887–1973) was one of the wealthiest women in America — heiress to the Post Cereals fortune — and one of the most significant collectors of Cartier pieces in the United States. Her collection included major Cartier jewels across several decades. Her story is explored in the dedicated webinar: The Cartiers and Marjorie Merriweather Post.

The Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) and the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) were among the most celebrated Cartier clients of the mid-twentieth century. Her engagement ring from the Prince of Wales was from Cartier, and her jewelry collection was extraordinary. Read the story on the blog: Wallis Simpson's Cartier London engagement ring.

The Hope Diamond is one of the world's most famous gemstones — a 45.52-carat deep blue diamond now held by the Smithsonian Institution. Cartier acquired it and sold it to the American collector Evalyn Walsh McLean. The story is told on the blog: The Hope Diamond.

The Taylor-Burton Diamond is a 69.42-carat pear-shaped diamond that Cartier purchased at auction in New York in 1969 — at the time the highest price paid at auction for a diamond. Richard Burton subsequently acquired it from Cartier for Elizabeth Taylor. It was widely known as the Cartier Diamond before taking its final name. Read the story on the blog: The Taylor-Burton Diamond.

Cartier and Fabergé are the two most often compared luxury houses of the Belle Époque. Both served the same elite international clientele — Russian aristocracy, European royalty, American millionaires — and both produced extraordinary fantasy objects alongside jewellery. Their rivalry and overlap in clients is a recurring theme in The Cartiers. Francesca has spoken about this at the Smithsonian — read more on the blog: Royal rivals: Cartier and Fabergé.

Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922 sparked a wave of Egyptomania across the arts. Cartier embraced Egyptian motifs — scarabs, lotus flowers, hieroglyphic inscriptions, falcon heads — producing brooches, bracelets, and decorative objects in the Egyptian revival style throughout the 1920s. See an example on the blog: Cartier London Egyptian revival brooch.

No, but Francesca has done a series of 10 hour-long webinars about different aspects of the history and family story, which can be watched for free on the webinars page.

No, but Francesca has done a series of 10 hour-long webinars about different aspects of the history and family story, which can be watched for free on the webinars page.