Écrin

Place Vendôme · Paris, since 1847

Cartier

A Paris house that draws in clean gold lines and hard contrasts: onyx against diamond, three golds rolled together on one finger. It also made hardware precious, from a screw in 1969 and a nail in 1971 to a nut in 2017, and gave the panther a body in gold.

Founded by Louis-François Cartier. Ideas from €930. Cartier site

Panthère de Cartier ring in yellow gold: a sculpted panther head with black lacquer spots, green eyes and an onyx nose, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Panthère de Cartier

1914 From €4,400
Trinity ring, classic model: three interlinked bands of yellow, rose and white gold, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Trinity

1924 From €1,080
LOVE bracelet, classic model, in yellow gold with a row of screw heads, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

LOVE

1969 From €1,060
Solitaire 1895 in platinum: a brilliant-cut diamond held by four claws on a plain band, on a pale ground.
Image © Cartier

Solitaire 1895

1895 From €930
Grain de Café ring in yellow and white gold: four grooved gold coffee beans tipped with diamonds, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Grain de Café

1938 From €7,900
Juste un Clou bracelet, classic model, in yellow gold: a nail curved into a bangle, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Juste un Clou

1971 From €1,070
Écrou de Cartier bracelet in yellow gold: a thin threaded bangle carrying small hexagonal nuts, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Écrou de Cartier

2017 From €2,860
Clash de Cartier ring, medium model, in rose gold: rows of spikes around a central band of square studs, on a pale grey ground.
Image © Cartier

Clash de Cartier

2019 From €2,800
Étincelle de Cartier solitaire in platinum: a brilliant-cut diamond on a thin band paved with small diamonds, on a pale ground.
Image © Cartier

Etincelle de Cartier

From €3,300
Cartier Destinée solitaire in platinum: a brilliant-cut diamond inside a halo of small diamonds on a pavé band, on a pale ground.
Image © Cartier

Cartier Destinée

The conversation

Cartier answering

Answered by other houses

  • Tiffany Lock bangle in 18k yellow gold, medium, its padlock-shaped clasp at the top, on a white ground.

    Tiffany Lock, Tiffany & Co. after LOVE

    Tiffany Lock makes the same promise of a bracelet that locks on, drawn as a padlock shackle whose clasp swivels and clicks shut.

  • Three B.zero1 four-band rings in rose, white and yellow gold with diamond-set edges, on embossed BVLGARI paper

    B.zero1, Bulgari after LOVE

    Thirty years on, Bulgari took up the gold band that announces itself, spiralling it after the Colosseum and engraving its own name on the rims.

  • Quatre Classique large ring: four joined bands in yellow gold, rose gold, white gold set with a row of diamonds, and dark brown PVD, on a white ground.

    Quatre, Boucheron after Trinity

    Where Trinity lets three golds roll apart, Quatre presses four bands, each carrying an archive motif, into one solid ring.

  • Allegra

    Allegra, de Grisogono after Trinity

    Allegra winds thin bands round one another until a single ring looks like a loose, happy stack.

  • Possession ring in rose gold: a turning band chased with fine vertical lines and set with one diamond, on a transparent ground.

    Possession, Piaget after Trinity

    Trinity's bands roll over one another; Possession gives a ring a second band that spins freely round it.

  • Pomellato Together ring: two thin rose-gold bands held together by one wrapped gold link, on a pale grey ground.

    Pomellato Together, Pomellato after Trinity

    Together pares the joined rings down to two gold ellipses and one link, worn turned to the front or hidden behind the finger.

  • Mellerio Cut ring in white gold: an oval-shaped diamond in a halo of small diamonds on a pavé band, seen from above on a cream ground

    Mellerio Cut, Mellerio after Solitaire 1895

    Mellerio keeps the lone stone but gives it a cut of its own, a softened oval in memory of the Beau Sancy.

Inside the house

  • Juste un Clou bracelet, classic model, in yellow gold: a nail curved into a bangle, on a pale grey ground.

    Juste un Clou after LOVE

    Two years after the screw bracelet, Aldo Cipullo bent a single nail round the wrist, so the hardware became the whole form.

  • Écrou de Cartier bracelet in yellow gold: a thin threaded bangle carrying small hexagonal nuts, on a pale grey ground.

    Écrou de Cartier after LOVE

    Écrou reaches into the same toolbox for the thread and the nut and strings them on a slim gold cable.

  • Clash de Cartier ring, medium model, in rose gold: rows of spikes around a central band of square studs, on a pale grey ground.

    Clash de Cartier after Juste un Clou

    Cartier's taste for hardware turns punk: square studs, spikes and beads set in a mesh that moves under the finger.

  • Cartier Destinée solitaire in platinum: a brilliant-cut diamond inside a halo of small diamonds on a pavé band, on a pale ground.

    Cartier Destinée after Solitaire 1895

    Destinée rings the single stone with a halo set so lightly it seems to float free of the metal.

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