Beautiful Cartier folding clasp in 18K yellow gold with “BC” hallmark, from the 1970s.
CARACTÉRISTIQUES TECHNIQUES
Overall length: 7cm
Length at base: 10mm
Length at buckle: 7.2mm
ANALYSE
The idea behind the Cartier folding clasp arose from a very practical need: to make wearing a watch more comfortable and refined. While the first wristwatches, such as the famous Santos-Dumont from 1904, used traditional pin buckles, Louis Cartier wanted something more practical and elegant.
The turning point came in 1909, when the renowned watchmaker Edmond Jaeger patented for Cartier a new type of folding clasp (hence the French term déployante), a mechanism that allowed the strap to be opened and closed without having to insert and remove it from the buckle (British patent no. GB191027974A of December 1909). This first patent, which described “improvements to buckles or clasps for watch straps and the like,” was a landmark step. The folding clasp thus became exclusive to Cartier for many years, distinguishing its watches from the competition and becoming a hallmark of the brand even before the famous “Tank.” The folding clasp made its debut on the “Santos” in 1911, marking a milestone in the history of watchmaking.
Cartier often bears the “EJ” (Edmond Jaeger) hallmarks for French production, but Wright & Davies’ London production was equally prolific, while in Switzerland, the production of Guillod Gunther SA of La Chaux-de-Fonds is well documented. In the first half of the 1970s, Ebel/Blum & Co. (“BC”), also in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, also entered Cartier’s orbit and produced gold cases and folding clasps.
The folding clasps of the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, represent the last expression of an era in which each clasp was almost unique, handmade and for a specific customer: a craft tradition that has continued, from its invention in 1909 to the present day, the folding clasp has remained a fundamental element of the Cartier identity.
