The Watch: A modern Cartier Tank Must in black. The Tank Must was Cartier’s entry-level line conceived in the 1970’s. Cartier had long been a luxury retailer for the upper echelons. That began to change during the post-World War 2 “Les Trente Glorieuses,” a 30 year period of economic prosperity that brought a new upper middle class to bear. Cartier sought to take advantage of the new customer base in 1972 by creating a line of high end accessories, such as lighters, pens and bags, all under the “Must de Cartier” line.
The watch line was launched in 1976 and the cost was $500. The launch marked to key milestones for the brand. The first was that it was a non-precious metal watch, the first time in the brand’s history and it was also the first mass-produced watch. Prior to the Must line, the brand was producing around 3000 watches per year. By the end of the 70’s they were making in excess of 160,000 watches per year.
In the mid-2000s the brand ceased the line and the Must became an afterthought for some time. As interest in both vintage watches and Cartier rose in the late 2010’s, Cartier decided to relaunch the line, creating quartz watches with classic lacquered dials and minimalist design. This was bought from its original owner and has had very light use.
