In 1847, Louis-François Cartier opened a small jewellery workshop in Paris, promoting crystal bracelets, pearl strands, and floral-pattern brooches. Over the many years, his three grandsons, particularly eldest son Louis Cartier, turned recognized for mixing old-world craftsmanship with new applied sciences, such because the 1904 Santos pilot’s watch, named after the pioneering Brazilian pilot and adorned with small screws that resemble plane rivets; or the so-called Thriller Clock, a watch launched by the model in 1912 whose jewel-encrusted palms seem like floating (its rack-and-pinion gear system is hidden within the base) .

In 1914, Louis Cartier met Jeanne Toussaint, the Belgian French fashion icon who would change into his muse and rumored lover. Typically immaculately wearing her signature scarf and silk nightgown, she fascinated Cartier, who employed her to supervise the model’s purses and silver equipment. When Toussaint was appointed artistic director of the model’s jewellery division in 1933, she additionally discovered sudden inspiration in utilitarian objects: fuel pipes, bolts and even handcuffs. In 1938, she created a gold bracelet wrapped with sapphires, formed to resemble the interlocking hyperlinks of a yoke, reflecting her fascination with Mughal jewellery in India.

Now, Cartier is revisiting Toussaint’s basic design with a hoop topped by an 8.92-carat cabochon-cut emerald surrounded by spherical onyx, diamonds and turquoise. The work took 270 hours to create and its three-dimensional contours recall the looks of mechanical ball bearings, one other feat of sculptural engineering for a model constructed on innovation.

Pictures Assistant: Elise Lebaindre