Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932) was a Brazilian-born aeronaut who had settled in Paris by the late 1890s and become a celebrated figure in the city's scientific and social circles. He was known for his balloon flights over Paris and later for his fixed-wing aircraft experiments. His 14-bis made the first publicly witnessed heavier-than-air flight in Europe on 23 October 1906, covering 60 metres; on 12 November 1906 he made a longer ratified flight of 220 metres in 21.5 seconds that won him the Aéro-Club de France prize. He moved in the same world as Louis Cartier, with whom he became friends.
The practical problem
Santos-Dumont's aeronautical work posed a specific difficulty: checking the time by reaching for a pocket watch required both hands, which was impractical and dangerous when controlling a craft. The story, as Cartier has presented it, is that he raised the problem with Louis Cartier, and that the solution which emerged was a watch designed to be worn on the wrist with a leather strap and a visible square face, allowing the time to be read with a glance and without releasing the controls. The first watch is believed to have had a platinum case; it is now considered lost. Watch historians note that clear photographs showing Santos-Dumont wearing the timepiece during his 1906 flights are difficult to identify, and the early account rests primarily on company history and oral tradition.
The movements for the early production watches were made by Edmond Jaeger, who had a contract arrangement with Cartier. The design's distinctive square case with visible screws on the bezel was novel for the period; the exposed screws have been read by some sources as an aesthetic reference to the engineering of aviation and to the riveted construction of contemporary structures such as the Eiffel Tower.
The wristwatch and masculine fashion
At that time, wristwatches were associated primarily with women; men's timekeeping was almost entirely served by the pocket watch. Santos-Dumont was one of the most watched and photographed individuals in Paris, and the story of a prominent man commissioning a wristwatch (named after him when Cartier commercialised it) was part of how the wristwatch began to be reconsidered as an acceptable item for men. The First World War would later accelerate that shift independently through military use.
Commercialisation and legacy
Cartier commercialised the Santos watch in 1911, making it available for sale in platinum and yellow gold with leather straps, beyond the original commission. It went on to become one of the house's most durable designs, remaining in production across different generations of ownership.
Early Santos-Dumont watches appear occasionally at auction. The movements on examples from the early commercial period are often signed by the European Watch and Clock Company (EWC), the Cartier-Jaeger venture that supplied movements to Cartier during this period.
Santos-Dumont himself died in 1932, and his role in the watch's origin has been part of its story since Cartier began describing its history publicly.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 2 (“Louis, 1898–1919”) and ch. 4 (“Jacques, 1906–1919”)
- Wikipedia: Alberto Santos-Dumont
