Desire
FOR A BUBBLE OF SWEETNESS
Ballon Bleu de Cartier
Ville
Description
Sous Titre
If you are looking for a round watch that doesn’t really look round, you are on the right track. Some would even say that you’ve solved the squaring of the circle, or rather the ball, in light of its name: Ballon bleu.
Cherry on top of its cabochon, it plays the equality card to the core, as it is well balanced. Seen from above, the glass is rounded and its horns are short.
Seen from underneath, it is also curved and reveals a mechanical movement. But let’s come back to its « bubble », a blue cabochon, symbolic of truth, purity and wisdom. « Blue is a colour that doesn’t “rock the boat”, doesn’t shock and wins everyone’s approval.
Even the musicality of the word is calm, subdued: bleu in French, blue in English, blu in Italian (…) it is liquid and soft » writes Michel Pastoureau, in Blue, The History of a Colour (Seuil Edition). Perhaps also baby-blue? At a royal birth, a certain Prince gave his Princess a Ballon bleu. She hasn’t taken it off since. Keep calm and carry blue!
If you are looking for a round watch that doesn’t really look round, you are on the right track. Some would even say that you’ve solved the squaring of the circle, or rather the ball, in light of its name: Ballon bleu.
Cherry on top of its cabochon, it plays the equality card to the core, as it is well balanced. Seen from above, the glass is rounded and its horns are short.
Seen from underneath, it is also curved and reveals a mechanical movement. But let’s come back to its « bubble »,a blue cabochon, symbolic of truth, purity and wisdom. « Blue is a colour that doesn’t “rock the boat”, doesn’t shock and wins everyone’s approval.
Even the musicality of the word is calm, subdued: bleu in French, blue in English, blu in Italian (…) it is liquid and soft » writes Michel Pastoureau, in Blue, The History of a Colour (Seuil Edition). Perhaps also baby-blue? At a royal birth, a certain Prince gave his Princess a Ballon bleu. She hasn’t taken it off since. Keep calm and carry blue!
The devil is in the detail and the soft Ballon bleu watch from Cartier is no exception. Created in 2007 from a new vision of the round-faced watch, achieving the perfect balance between lines and volume, and much more. Let us explain why.
With its double convex pebble shape, it is unique even if it comes in 32 models, with mechanical or manual movement.
To blend volume and curves, its crystal sapphire is domed and completely integrated into the case.
The winder, with its blue bubble and crown protector under a metal hoop at 3 o’clock, is one of its strongest details. It is a single-piece, with the crown protector integrated into the middle of the casing. The cabochon is set in a fluted metal ring.
The railway tracks around the blue bubble at 3 o’clock symbolise the very spirit of the watch, both a node to the codes of Cartier watchmaking and a twist on the watchmaking tradition.
On its dial, the adorned decoration was created with a stamping press. It was polished by hand, bronzed and then given a silver- finish. The letter engraving is meticulous, the letters are curved and smooth. The dial work requires about fifteen operations.
Its blued hands are the result of some twenty operations, their special colour coming from oxidising the steel, obtained by a heating process to prevent rust.
Its 1847 MC movement, entirely developed and manufactured by Cartier, is distinguished by its high level of performance and reliability and guarantees a precision of -3 /+7 seconds per day, equivalent to COSC.
On the metal bracelet, the H links are brushed and polished. The bracelet is also available in a choice of different materials and colours. Last but not least, its folding clasp, for which Cartier filed a patent in 1909, was revisited with a new version in 2019. It offers a new system that is even more ergonomic, reliable and interchangeable. The buckle has come full circle !
