The Cloche (from the French word for “bell”) is a wristwatch in a bell-shaped case: narrow at the top, widening toward the base. The name comes from the French hotel counter bell -- when removed from the wrist and placed on its brushed 6 o'clock side, the watch stands upright and functions as a small desk clock. The shape may also have been known as the “Pagode” in its earliest form.
Origins
The bell-shaped case reportedly first appeared around 1920 as a diamond and onyx watch-brooch. A platinum and diamond cloche wristwatch is said to have followed in 1921, and a yellow gold version with a leather strap around 1922. Production was always small -- the number made is not recorded publicly, but all sources describe output in modest terms.
The Cloche emerged during the most inventive decade for case forms at Cartier Paris. The Tonneau (1906) and Tortue (1912) had moved beyond the circular case, and the Tank (1917-1919) had established the rectangular wristwatch. Where those shapes can be described in terms of geometry, the Cloche reads more as a silhouette -- closer to decorative art than industrial design.
Case and Dial
The strap attaches at the narrow upper end, so the watch hangs from the wrist with the wider portion at the bottom. The dial sits in the lower section, with numerals arranged within the bell-shaped contour rather than on a conventional circle or rectangle. Roman numerals in black, blued steel hands, and the Cartier railway-track minute chapter appear on period examples. The winding crown, set with a cabochon sapphire, sits at the top.
Design attribution
The Cloche is associated with the creative direction of Louis Cartier and the contributions of Charles Jacqueau, Cartier's leading designer from the 1910s through the 1930s. Jacqueau worked across jewellery and watches and contributed to the Art Deco vocabulary that the firm developed in both fields. As with most Cartier watches of this period, movements were supplied through the European Watch and Clock Co., the joint venture between Cartier and Edmond Jaeger, with manufacture by Jaeger-LeCoultre.
Later editions
The Cloche was revived several times: a limited edition of 200 pieces in yellow gold (1995), 100 pieces in yellow gold through the Collection Privee Cartier Paris programme (c. 2007), and in 2021 as part of the Prive collection to celebrate the centenary of the original model, in three metals -- yellow gold, pink gold, and platinum -- limited to 100 pieces of each. A skeleton variant was also produced.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 2 (“Louis, 1898-1919”) and ch. 5 (“Stones Paris: Early 1920s”)
- Phillips, Geneva Watch Auction: FOUR, Lot 7 (November 2016): unique platinum commemorative Cloche
- Antiquorum, “The Magical Art of Cartier,” Lot 615 (November 1996): platinum Cloche, cal. 9P2
- Bonhams Hong Kong, Lot 823 (November 2023): CPCP Cloche ref. 2841, no. 077/100
