A gold plated brass folding travel alarm clock by Cartier. This is a very rare and unusual piece, but quite in common with what Cartier were doing for their North American stores at this time. We find a lot of contract pieces that were made in the U.S purely for the U.S market. It would be very easy to imagine that during the mid-part of the twentieth century Cartier in Paris would simply not have been able to keep up with the growth and expansion of their business in a market that was expanding at rates not seen prior after the turbulence of Word War Two. This was fueled by a burgeoning and voracious consuming middle and upper middle class, who were being encouraged to consume at a rate not seen in the developed world before.
During this time there are a select number of watches and clock made by third party manufacturers and retailed under the Cartier name in their boutiques. A practice now seemingly unthinkable. However, at this time, and indeed early in the 1920's and 30's, pieces can be found made by Movado, Baume & Mercier, and in this case; Concord. There would likely have been a design brief obtained as to what pieces were required, and how they were to look, as the DNA of Cartier is still very much present in these pieces. This lovely little travel clock very much fits the bill here.
It looks very similar to examples being made by Jaeger LeCoultre both for themselves, and Cartier. We have had examples of Cartier only branded Memovox travel alarms. It has the classic two crowns at the top of the clock. These small travel pieces, unlike the larger desk or living room pieces originate from wrist alarm watches.
The wrist alarm itself was not a new concept, initially launched by Eterna in 1914. However, they did not gain widespread popularity until the introduction of the Vulcan "Cricket" in 1947. It was this well made, loud and fairly inexpensive model that introduced the wrist alarm to the wider public, and President's alike! Off the back of this growing segment of the watch market, Jaeger LeCoultre developed their own model to compete in 1949. Others followed suit with the likes of A. Schild and this Concord caliber working in a similar fashion.
With regard to the dial, it is very much the classic Cartier design from this period. Interestingly when researching this piece a very similar looking wristwatch using the exact same caliber was made for Tiffany & Co. The dial is also marked "T Swiss T" at the foot of the dial below the six o'clock marker. The hands are the classic dauphine design, also Tritium lume filled and matching and original. The small extra hand with the ref enamel pointed tip is for setting the alarm time that is desired. The sunburst metallic dial is printed with the iconic period correct Cartier signature as well.
The two crowns; one for setting and winding the alarm, and one for setting and winding the time are both original, and unsigned as Cartier did not have any signed crowns on their watches. Instead relying on iconic cabochon stones being set into them. The movement powering the clock is a seventeen jewel, unadjusted manual wind movement. The movement has the Concord Watch company U.S import stamp of CXC stamped into the bridge, again confirming its intention to be imported and sold in the U.S market. This is really intended for short trips, and travel, and not an "at home" version, which aforementioned would be larger and house an eight day caliber. Meaning it would only requiring winding once a week. Where as this is a watch caliber and will requite winding every day.
A wonderful little travel piece, and most unusual. It is stamped with the unique Cartier reference stamps on the base of the folding base. The back is singed Swiss on the outside and Concord on the inside. The condition is superb throughout. A wonderful little traveling companion for those that like to travel and keep the phone away from the bedside!
