Replica Cartier Santos Dumont Rewind – time read backwards

In one of the latest versions of the classic Santos Dumont model, the French manufacturer proposed an extremely interesting solution – time measured in the opposite direction.

A quick glance at the blood-red dial of the new Santos Dumont should cause you to experience consternation similar to that which appeared on our faces if we held the watch in our hands for the first time. The human eye quickly gets used to certain well-known images, and the classic way of reading time from a watch face is a perfect example of this. Our brain can intuitively read the time from a classically arranged watch face and the hands moving on it. So what happens when watch designers decide to have fun with classics and “redefine the wheel”? It varies, and different forms of reading time differently bring different effects. Usually, however, unusual interpretations can be handled relatively quickly and efficiently.

However, Replica Cartier designers decided to play with our mind and perception in a refined, subtle and devoid of fireworks way. So they reversed the dial so that now time is measured backwards, in the opposite direction to that we know from normal watches. So we have indices arranged in reverse and the hands following them – also in reverse -. Two Breguet hands, polished to a brilliant shine like indices, move on a burgundy-red “Carnelian red” dial that perfectly matches Cartier’s DNA. It is finished with a lacquered, glossy coating that enhances the visual effect. The whole thing is surrounded by a minute ring, just like the logo, painted in white.

Inside the case, under the full case back, signed with Alberto Santos-Dumont’s name, there is a manually wound caliber 230 MC – a modified version of the well-known and proven caliber 430 MC. The modification, of course, concerns the inverted time display, because otherwise the movement retains the 3 Hz balance frequency and a rather modest 38 hours of power reserve.

Availability and price

Cartier Santos Dumont Rewind is certainly a watch aimed at connoisseurs and the most experienced collectors of the brand. There will only be 200 of them, because that’s the limit. The price of the copy was set at CHF 37,000 (~PLN 161,000).