Even serious watch enthusiasts get a little dreamy-eyed when they hear the name "Pasha." It's as if the mere mention of the word conjures up images of immeasurable riches and oriental flair.
It was the wish of HajThami El Mezouari El Glaoui that he could keep his watch on his wrist while he was swimming. The pasha of Marrakech was irked by the fact that he always had to remove his watch before diving into his swimming pool for a few leisurely laps. But as he was never one to put up with an irritation for very long, early in the 1930s this North African potentate asked master watchmaker Louis Cartier to build a water resistant watch for his royal wrist. It was no coincidence that the pasha chose to entrust this task to Louis Cartier, since the Cartier name had already won fame due to its long tradition of excellence in the watch maker's craft. Also, a pithy phrase from the early 20th century characterized Monsieur Cartier as the "jeweler of kings and the king of jewelers."
Around the middle of the 19th century, the house of Cartier had come into the good graces of French nobles, and it didn't take long before the Parisian firm was delivering Cartier products to the mansions and bastions of the world's rulers. Cartier began to expand its timepiece line in 1874, when Louis Francois Alfred Cartier joined his parents' business. The first timekeeping items were mostly clocks for tabletops, desktops, and mantelpieces. These larger timepieces, which were crafted in Cartier's atelier at 9 Boulevard des Italiens, gave the traditional jewelry-making firm a second leg to stand on. The first wristwatches to bear the Cartier insignia were crafted in 1888. Sales of these innovative items, however, were initially rather slow.
In addition to the firm's own development department, Replica Cartier Watches also made good use of its close contacts with manufactures such as Audemars Piguet Replica Watches and Vacheron Constantin watches. The name Edmond Jaeger first appeared in connection with the name Cartier in 1895. At that time, Jaeger was one of the best watchmakers in Paris and was highly respected as a specialist in the art of crafting slender watches and complex complications. For a certain time, Jaeger was under a contract that granted Cartier exclusive rights to Jaeger's extra slim calibers, repeater movements, chronographs, and all other complications, as well as to Jaeger's other technical and aesthetic creations. Thanks to this gifted watchmaker, Cartier was able to quickly establish itself in the elite world of haute horlogerie. With the debut of the Santos model (which Louis Cartier created in 1911 in honor of his friend, the Brazilian pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont), the Cartier name also became firmly associated with timepieces for the wrist. Another attribute that has since become closely allied with the Cartier brand also debuted early in the 20th century: A cabochon was first used as an ornament on the crown of a platinum watch in 1906.
The pasha of Marrakech, who was probably born around 1875, was a loyal Cartier customer: Numerous individual creations that had been born in Cartier's ateliers became fixed features in the sovereign's treasure chambers. One of the potentate's most famed items was a small, rectangular watch whose yellow gold case was completely covered with Moorish-style motifs in blue and green enamel. In addition to the obligatory sapphire on the crown, gemstones also embellished the watch's four corners. The pasha's request for a water-resistant wristwatch was more than merely a commission for Louis Cartier, Louis Francois Cartier's grandson. Louis Cartier viewed the sovereign's order as an honor and a duty. Crafting a water-resistant wristwatch wasn't a total innovation for Cartier. As early as 1930 (just a very few years after Rolex debuted its Oyster), Monsieur Cartier had already devised a way to protect the shaped case of his Tank Etanche against penetration by water. It's a far more difficult task to make a water-resistant rectangular watch than it is to craft a water-resistant circular wristwatch. Angles and corners make it nearly impossible to create a perfectly fitting crystal and thus an ideally hermetic seal. If for no other reason than this, the watch that Cartier designed for the pasha is justifiably regarded as a masterpiece of technology and design. Research in Cartier's archive reveals that the water-resistant Pasha delivered in 1934 to the pool loving pasha was essentially an elaborately decorated and significantly reworked variant of the Tank Etanche. The sovereign was so satisfied with the performance of his wristwatch and with the work of the Parisian jewelers that he remained one of the enterprise's most welcome guests for the remainder of his life, which ended at a ripe old age in 1956.
Making the pasha's wish come true also gave birth to a myth that further enhanced the brand's already lofty reputation. But the events surrounding the pasha's water-resistant wristwatch remained nothing more than a frequently recounted anecdote until 1985, when Cartier decided to breathe new life into the timekeeping legend.
The current models of the Pasha, however, aren't patterned after the wristwatch originally created for the North African nobleman. They're more closely based on a time piece that debuted in 1943. Al¬though the idea for this watch was born during Louis Cartier's lifetime, he died in 1942, thus narrowly missing the watch's premiere. Like the first watch for the pasha, this new model too had a water-resistant gold case and featured all of the attributes that would continue to characterize the resurrected Pasha. For example, its crown was covered and protected by a "hood" which was connected to the case by means of a screw down connective piece, there by securely guarding the interior of the watch against penetration by moisture. A little chain ensured that this protective treasure never slipped through your fingers and got lost. This functional solution was derived from the repertory of military diver's watches, although these deep diving accessories weren't crafted with anything approaching the artfulness of Cartier's version.
Also, the dial with its quadratic minutes scale was protected against shock by a metal grid affixed above the crystal. This style of protection, which was surely an expression of the tastes of its era, likewise embodied a return to a device that was first used on early military watches. With a diameter of nearly 41 millimeters, the watch was positively gigantic com pared to other wristwatches of its day and age. Measured by contemporary standards, however, the timepiece seems more like the precursor of a modern sport wristwatch with a luxurious character, which is probably another reason why Cartier opted to revive it. Unfortunately, however, the truly daring step was not taken by Cartier in the mid 1980s, when the firm decided to give the watch a more classical diameter of just 38 millimeters. If Cartier had held fast to the original size, the Pasha would have been the first member of a club that continues to thrive today.
The idea of paying homage to the memory of the pasha of Marrakech by launching a new line of watches was no accident. In the mid-1980s, a new attitude had begun to assert itself, characterized by the unapologetic display of prestigious and valuable objects. Luxury possessions and the where withal required to acquire them were no longer kept discreetly hidden. For the time being, it least, it seemed as though the era of understatement had been left behind. The legendary riches of Arab sheiks and princes, who knew something about ostentatious displays of wealth, inspired jewelry creations around the world. Cartier's designers recalled the anecdote about the pasha for whom money seemed to play no role, the potentate who had blithely spent kings' ransoms to acquire precious items to embellish hisopulent palaces. Furthermore, the very word "pasha" conjures up images of myth and mystery and evokes visions of gold, gemstones, and artfully wrought jewelry. Thus the two were wed: a wristwatch that embodied the finest horological abilities of its era, and a nobleman whose legendary wrist watch wrote a grand chapter in the book of Cartier's history.
Another factor also favored the recreation of the Cartier Pasha Replica at this point: One year prior to the watch's premiere, Cartier had been taken over by the Rembrandt group, which would later develop into the powerful Richemont concern. Under the aegis of the Rembrandt group, Alain-Do-minique Perrin (who had tirelessly propelled Cartier's renaissance since the early 1970s) had much more room to maneuver and to develop innovative watches. In 1978, he had begun to create what would ultimately develop into a whole series of successful watch models based on historical models. The luxurious Pasha was one of the high points in his creative career.
Naturally, this timepiece had to keep the promise implicit in its name. With the Pasha, Cartier transformed the technically oriented wristwatch into a piece of jewelry for the masculine wrist. It was designed to be a sparkling eye catcher, clad in precious garb and impossible to overlook. With this watch, Cartier abandoned the understated elegance that the brand had cultivated for so long. The Pasha debuted to a receptive market and quickly became a success. The watch was christened with the French syllable "de" (to denote its nobility) and introduced into the elite circle of the horological aristocracy under the name Pasha de Cartier...a privilege which this jeweler accords to only to two other lines (Panthere and Santos). Surprisingly, it wasn't solely Cartier's male customers who expressed interest in the Pasha. Although the timepiece has a rather martial appearance, it has also repeatedly been sighted on feminine wrists. The original three-handed model was soon joined by several complicated variants, some equipped with quartz movements.
As the mechanical watch renaissance gained momentum, calibers with a traditional spring-driven power source became correspondingly more popular inside Pasha cases. Both the quartz movements and the mechanical calibers continue to be made partly in Cartier's own ateliers and partly by extramural suppliers. The list of suppliers includes such renowned names like Frederic Piguet and Piaget Polo Replica Watches. Gerald Genta too was responsible for a few variants of the mutable Pasha. The series of watch making celebrities is rounded out by the name ETA: The Grenchen caliber makers deliver the base caliber for models in the Pasha C collection. Some movements a re crafted by the suppliers exclusively for Cartier, other calibers are elaborately reworked in the jeweler's own workshops.
Only a very few lines of watches offer as many versions as does the Pasha. Beginning with the three handed model, practically everything that creative minds can put into a wristwatch has been part of the Pasha line at one time or another. The crowning glories are models with perpetual calendars and an impressively large number of different tourbillon models. One of the most extraordinary items is a variant for golfers. Four counters, each on its own subdial, keep track of golfers' strokes at the push of a button. As was also true of many other Pasha variants, this watch was available with either a quartz or mechanical caliber. The base movement for the mechanical model was the Caliber 39, a 12-ligne movement that served as the "house caliber" for the more elaborate Pasha models. Numerous complications have been added, such as a dis-play of the time in a second time zone to models equipped with a perpetual calendar. Since 1992, these watches have been built at new fac-tory halls in Le Villeret. Here in the heart of Switzerland's Jura region, Cartier is able to emphasize the ateliers' proximity to the traditional cradles of haute horlogerie.
In the 18 years since its launch, the collection has been given many different faces. Refined complications have been implemented and widely diverse materials have been used. Scarcely a year goes by in which a new interpretation isn't added to the basic form. An order list from 1995 records no fewer than 44 different models. Among them were the first models of the "Pasha C," which currently embody the entree into the world of Pashas. The watch is now powered by the latest base version of the ETA Caliber 2892-A2. After rebuilding, this self winding movement provides the energy required to power the watch's big date display. An ETA 2894 ticks reliably inside chronograph versions. But only at first glance does mass produced merchandise seem to be at work beneath the screwed in back. You can be sure that these movements are thoroughly reworked and elaborately decorated before they're encased inside a Pasha. Granted, the appearance of all components is kept slightly simpler, the diameter of the watch has been reduced to 35 millimeters, and the case is crafted from stainless steel. But when you fork over your $3,500, you'll not only be buying an uncommonly fine watch but also acquiring the luxurious ambiance that surrounds the name. There are still some people who prefer the designer inspired replica watches that can be found on the web today. One of the best places to find top replica watches is this is the route you wish to go is www.timetraditions.com.
This year, the series was extended towards the top of the line to include a new tourbillon model. The protective grid that's so characteristic of the Pasha line has been integrated into the dial and fitted with insets crafted from onyx and from platinum cov¬ered with white gold. At the same time, the grid also functions as a bridge for the mechanisms. A transparent pane in the back lets you peer into the lever tourbillon combination of the Caliber 492MC. This Pasha of all Pashas will set you back $130,800. The name Pasha now ranks among the fixed features in Cartier's world of products. And the distinctive insignia isn't found solely on wristwatches, as the assortment of Pasha products ranges from eau de toilette to leather wear and writing implements. All of this merchandise is oriented according to the watch's image: luxurious, sporty, with a touch of extravagance, but designed to look appropriate in any and every situation. The focus, of course, remains on the timepieces. There can be no doubt that the Pasha line has been a stroke of good luck for Cartier. The strategists in the company's marketing department never had to take pains to create an image for it, because the mere mention of the evocative word "pasha" instantly communicated an intriguing story to potential customers. Then as now, the water loving nobleman serves as a great vehicle for delivering an extraordinary watch.
