In May 2022, the small world of watch auctions was shaken. Exit the Rolex Daytona, Patek Philippe Nautilus or the Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet. It was then question on the online sales site Loupe This of luxury replica Cartier Crash watches from 1967, sold for more than one million euros, thus pulverizing the previous record held by Sotheby’s for London Cartier Crash fake watches for sale from 1970, gone for just over 800,000 euros.
Sotheby’s could once again win a good auction with the upcoming auction of a new reference signed Cartier. This time it is the legendary luxury Canada Cartier replica watches called “Cheich”. Legend, because it is the very first time that the piece – estimated between 200,000 and 400,000 euros – will be auctioned without forgetting its extraordinary history, which makes it one of the most sought-after AAA Cartier copy watches by collectors as well than its elegant and revolutionary design for the time.
A unique piece born in 1983 on the occasion of Paris-Dakar
“The wholesale replica Cartier “Cheich” watches is extraordinary in many ways. Its intimate link with the most famous car race in the world, made up of victories and dramas, holds the full attention of true collectors. While the process of creating unique luxury watches of this nature is both unprecedented and far-reaching, the Cartier “Cheich” was created well in advance – a feat. But it is above all the extreme audacity of the design of this Swiss made Cartier super clone watches which fascinates, unaltered 40 years after its conception, and the way in which Cartier has succeeded in completely reinventing what the House was the first to create: a wristwatch for pilots,” explains Benoît Colson, international fine watchmaking specialist at Sotheby’s.
We are in 1983. On the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the Paris-Dakar – the famous and perilous 10,000 kilometer rally between France and the African desert, founded in 1978 – Alain Dominique Perrin, then president of Cartier and Thierry Sabine, driver and founder of the race, launch the “Défi Cartier”. At his key? Cheap replica Cartier “Cheich” watches, reward awarded to the first competitor to win the rally twice in a row and in the same category (car, motorcycle or truck). An almost impossible mission for the runners except for one of them: Gaston Rahier. A driver nicknamed “the little man with the immense reputation” – he was 1m57 tall – and considered one of the greatest champions in the history of motorsports. In 1983, he entered the Paris-Dakar for the first time on his BMW R80DS but had to give up after a crash. He left the following year and offered himself a first victory before celebrating a second success in 1985. He thus became the first and only winner of the “Défi Cartier”, since 1986 marked the end of the latter after the helicopter accident that cost the life of Thierry Sabine as well as the singer Daniel Balavoine, present on board.
Gaston Rahier was therefore the only beneficiary of the perfect fake Cartier “Cheich” watches, hence its extreme rarity. It is this piece, kept until then by the descendants of the pilot and not appeared in public for more than 40 years, that Sotheby’s is dispersing today under the fire of auction. Best Cartier replica watches with transgressive forms, in particular its case – which mixes white, yellow and pink gold – totally asymmetrical and which is inspired by the face of a Touareg wearing a chèche, this traditional veil wrapped around the head in order to protect itself from the Sun. Only four models have thus seen the light of day, two of which are currently kept in the Cartier archives. Two references made in 1983 including that of Rahier as well as another for women, a third made in 1985 for a possible future champion and a fourth, offered to Thierry Sabine who would then have given it to the motorcycle pilot Hubert Auriol, a piece now considered lost.