Richemont’s biggest brand, perfect replica Cartier, is best known for the consistency with which it nails the essence of luxury — here’s a prime example — but another, arguably even more fun side is when this beast of a company takes a more playful approach. Why? Because it tends to be a rather special blend of entertaining details, fascinating history, and artisanship. A case in point is this watch, the Watches & Wonders 2023 novelty 1:1 fake Cartier Santos-Dumont Micro-Rotor.
A tribute to pioneering Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont and his 1907 aircraft, the Demoiselle, the Santos is remarkably special because it is among the oldest watch collections ever in continuous production. When Santos asked Louis Cartier to create a wristwatch he could wear while flying his early planes, the 1904 luxury replica Cartier Santos became one of those wristwatches that helped popularize the genre among men who at the time considered wristwatches women’s jewelry. The cheap copy Cartier Santos watch is a year older than Rolex itself, another brand that played a defining role in making the wristwatch more common and accepted.
The star of the show certainly is the miniature and stylized reproduction of the Demoiselle over the solid platinum micro-rotor that replenishes the 44-hour power reserve of the Swiss made fake Cartier Santos-Dumont Micro-Rotor watch, but there is so much to be discovered. Cartier has embraced lubrication-free watch movement components at a relatively early stage and has experimented with a great variety of outlandish mechanical movement developments — just think of the vacuum-sealed ID2 from over a decade ago that relied, according to the brand, on not silicon but “carbon crystal” movement parts. Today, you have to look closer at the image directly above and discover a special wheel at the bottom center: Those special spokes hint at high quality replica Cartier using UV-LiGA or similar technologies for more advanced component geometry, along with a similarly complex escapement wheel near the top center.
On the wrist, the aaa quality fake Cartier Santos-Dumont Micro-Rotor (reference CRWHSA0032 in stainless steel, as seen here) wears small, but not petite. It measures 31mm-wide but, as always, that measurement should be taken with a grain of salt with square-cased watches. The polished bezel adds to the presence of the watch, as do the relatively long lugs and almost ridiculously large crown with the trademark best quality replica Cartier cabochon sticking out like the pommel on an over-decorated sword of an 18th-century royal. It’s gaudy, borderline tacky, but also an essential element of Cartier watches.
We’ll close on another fascinating detail of the Cartier Santos-Dumont fake for sale which is the fact that it is a regular production model in stainless steel and rose gold, only the yellow-gold version is limited to 150 pieces. And while €27,900 including taxes (roughly $30,000 once the lower sales taxes are taken into consideration) is a huge amount of money, it is at least what one would expect for a fully open-worked top quality copy Cartier with as many bespoke details and a handful of cutting-edge movement components as we are seeing here.
Again, the Swiss super clone Cartier Santos-Dumont Micro-Rotor watch (CRWHSA0032) is priced at €27,900 including taxes and should be available starting this summer.