Cartier Tank Must Large WSTA0041

The storyWhy this reference matters

In 1977 Cartier did something that looked like heresy at the time: it sold a Tank that wasn't gold. The quartz crisis had wiped out the market for expensive mechanical watches, and the house answered with Les Must de Cartier — sterling silver cases plated in gold (vermeil) and dials lacquered in burgundy, green or blue. It worked so well that it brought Cartier a whole clientele that until then had looked at the window from outside.

The name came back at Watches & Wonders 2021, this time in steel and as a full family. Three sizes: extra-large at 41 by 31 mm, large at 33.7 by 25.5 and small at 29.5 by 22. The two smaller ones are quartz with a claimed eight years of autonomy; the extra-large carries the automatic 1847 MC. That same year brought the SolarBeat version, with the Roman numerals on the dial perforated to let light through to photovoltaic cells hidden underneath.

The trick behind the whole exercise is in the case. The Tank Must doesn't debut a shape: it uses the Tank Louis Cartier's, the rounded brancards Cartier had reserved for gold for decades. The large's measurements — 33.7 by 25.5 by 6.6 mm — are the same figure for figure as the rose gold Tank Louis Cartier. Same silhouette, different metal, different movement, different invoice.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

The WSTA0041 is the large: 33.7 by 25.5 mm, 6.6 thick, steel case, high-autonomy quartz, silvered dial, blued sword hands, beaded crown with a blue synthetic spinel and a black grained calfskin strap on a steel pin buckle. Hours and minutes only.

Be careful not to muddle the sizes. The extra-large is 41 by 31 and you can spot it from a metre away because it has a seconds hand, a date window and the word Automatic on the dial. If all you see is two hands and no calendar, you're looking at a large or a small, and there the ruler decides: 33.7 against 29.5 mm tall.

To rule out a SolarBeat, look at the Romans with a loupe: on the photovoltaic version they are pierced with micro-holes. And bear in mind that the WSTA0041 has dropped out of Cartier's live catalogue in most markets; the watches sold today as a large quartz on a strap carry other references with identical descriptions. A WSTA0041 advertised as new is old stock.

CollectingWhat collectors check

It's a flat steel watch, and flat steel forgives nothing. The Tank Must's case is very nearly one continuous surface between brushed and polished, with no decoration to hide a mark in, and little material to sacrifice to a refinish. Outward condition counts for more here than on almost any other Cartier.

Check the battery and the date of the last service. Eight claimed years of autonomy means there are 2021 examples still on their first cell; it also means there are examples forgotten in a drawer with a dead battery inside, which is the classic way to ruin a quartz from within.

Look at the buckle and the strap, because on an entry model like this one they're what gets swapped for generics most often, and Cartier signs its own. And ask for box and papers: quartz Tanks change hands constantly, dials and hands move between references easily, and the paperwork is the only thing tying the watch to its code.

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