The Blue and Gold Banquet You’ve Waited For: Cartier Santos-Dumont Ref. WGSA0098

For those who grew up in Scouting, the Blue and Gold banquet at the end of the year was something you looked forward. Go out for a special meal with your family and friends, and have awards and prizes handed out? What wasn’t to like? With the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold Ref. WGSA0098, you can relive that feeling every day you have it on your wrist.

History

For as iconic as the Cartier Santos-Dumont is, you may not be aware of the history of the design. It started back in 1904, with the Brazilian pilot Alberto Santos-Dumont (yes, that’s where the model name originates). He was friends with Louis Cartier, and told him about the difficulties of flying and using a pocket watch. 

Cartier worked on addressing that issue, and came up with the rounded square that we’re familiar with today. Looking at it, we wouldn’t think of the watch as a pilot’s watch, but that was indeed its original purpose. While the design started in 1904, it wasn’t until 1911 that the general public had their chance to buy one. Since then, this is a watch line that has been released in limited numbers.

Design Details

For the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold, the case is of course the calling card that hits your eyes first. You want to call it a square, but closer examination shows that there are no sharp edges (aside from the chamfer) on either the case or the bezel. The bezel contains another iconic touch for the design, with the eight screws. 

While the handset in the model line has occasionally seen pomme-style used, the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold goes with the more common sword handset. These indicate against Arabic numerals on the dial, which is unexpected. These models more commonly have Roman numerals used, but we feel that the Arabic numerals can make things feel a bit more approachable in the design.

In terms of a color palette on this watch, you’ve got just the two colors – blue and rose gold. The rose gold is the material for the case, and then that continues on to the handset and indices. The dial is a brilliant sunray blue, with the blue extending to the strap and cabochon crown. 

Inner Workings

On occasion, the Cartier Santos-Dumont has seen a quartz movement make an appearance. For this rose gold limited edition, however, a manually-wound mechanical movement has taken up residence. In this case, it’s the MC 430, which started life as a base Piaget 430P movement. This is an ultra-thin movement (2.1mm) with 18 jewels, running at a modest 3 Hz and offering a 43-hour power reserve.

Versus The Competition

If you’re considering the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold, you would be remiss to not take a look at other versions of the Santos-Dumont. For example, you could go with the intriguing Roman numeral dial of the WGSA0053, or go with the more industrial feel of the Santos de Cartier Skeleton.

Outside of the Cartier catalog, you also have plenty of options when it comes to squared watches. Another name that would be familiar to fashion-conscious consumers would be Hermes, and here, we would recommend the Hermès H08. This is a very modern take on the squared watch, and we thoroughly enjoy the custom font that Hermes created for the watch.

Finally, we could not let the square watch discussion wrap without bringing up the Patek Phillipe Nautilus. Sure, this one more closely approaches a round case than what we’ve discussed so far, but the inclusion of the flared sides puts this firmly in the square camp, for us. Whatever you want to call the shape, it’s hard to deny a design that first came from the pencil of Genta.

Personality

We believe that a watch like the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold is going to appeal to someone who appreciates the history and lineage of a design, but is not afraid to look for adjustments to bring it to a more modern taste. This particular design has the larger case that many prefer now, and the Arabic numerals should make this a watch that will be comfortable in daily wear, not just for more formal occasions.

Final Thoughts

What sticks with us most about the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold is not the iconic case shape and 8-screw bezel, or just how well-balanced the blue and gold is on this version. No, it’s that historical tidbit that the design was intended as a pilot’s watch, first and foremost. This is the sort of trivia that resets our current thinking on what makes a pilot watch, as well as being a bit of deeper lore that the owner of the watch can pull out at their next watch get together. Even without the history, the Cartier Santos-Dumont Rose Gold continues over a century of a design that just plain works, and is an icon in its own right.

See more of the Cartier Santos-Dumont Ref. WGSA0098.

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