# 1970s Cartier Pre-Must Ghost watches! Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo etc



## benbenny (Jan 24, 2016)

All images used in this thread do not belong to me and are only used by me for reference purpose only. If you have any rights to one of the pictures than please contact me and I will remove these.

*Click here for the reference guide for the fake 1970s Cartier Catena watches that do not exist.* Reference guide Fake 1970s Cartier Catena watches

*Click here for the reference guide for the 1970s Pre-Must Cartier Organic Tank Wood : * Reference guide: Vintage 1970s Cartier Tank Wood - 20m...​
Cartier is not very helpful with releasing their records, and finding references for many vintage Cartier watches can be challenging. Therefore the early and rarer models can go unnoticed / overlooked duo the lack of information. I'm planning to post some reference differences and some knowledge which I have on certain vintage Cartier watches, and today I will start with the oversized vintage Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo XL, which dates from circa 1974-75.



*The Tank On Steroids 

Production numbers estimates based on case serial research: 

- Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo 14k ref: 15716, New York boutique - circa 2500 pieces 

- Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo 18k ref: 5512116 London boutique - circa 5000 pieces 

- Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo 18k ref: 5512116 Paris boutique - circa 5000 pieces*


It seems that almost all Cartier models are well documented by hands-on research and literature. Information for many of the models is generally well documented and widely available. But this is not the case for the early 1970s Pre-Must gold plated Cartier watches which were made from 1973 until 1976, not many were produced, and not much is known about them and they therefore went under the radar for the last five decades..



In the early 1970s during the quartz crisis in the Swiss watch industry, many of the mechanical watchmakers brands were barely surviving or had to close down. Cartier was among one of these brands. But Cartier had the advantage of being also known as the king jewellers, and not watchmakers, and could keep their doors open by selling their jewellery unlike many other watch brands. But their watch department sales were dropping and Cartier had to come up with new ideas to promote their watches to a broader audience and peek the interest of their wealthy customer who were mainly jewellery and accessories buyers.











Somewhere in the late 1960s up to circa 1973 the three Cartier boutiques came up with a new marketing strategy and decided to gift their wealthy customer base with basic entry level watches, and distributed these as accessories to their other product lines in circa 1970-73. You bought for example a gold Cartier pen or cigarette box, you got a basic gents "Cartier Tank" watch on the same package. The man would buy a Cartier jewellery piece or feminine perfume kit for his wife, and the box would for contain the perfume bottle, a stitched handkerchief and a nice little "Cartier" watch.

These Pre-Must watches started to get noticed by the public and Cartier received many inquiries from people that wanted to buy these basic watches without having to buy first a high-end Cartier product in order to obtain one of these watches. The boutiques listened to this feedback and duo the high demand they started to develop better quality and better designed Pre-Must watches for sale somewhere between 1973 and 1976. These were the gold plated Cartier Stepped Tank, Cartier Tank Pallisandre De Rio (aka Tank Wood) and the Cartier Tank Louis.



While back than not considered in the same league as other Cartier models, the Pre-Must models performed extremely well in terms of sales and introduced Cartier to a broader audience. It was apparently because of the success of these watches that the new owners of Cartier released the "Must De" line in 1977. (The three separate Cartier brands NYC, Paris and London were sold by their spouses who had inherited the business and sold them to the same group of investors. The new owners reunited the three branches into one as we know Cartier today).

When they started the sale of these Pre-Must watches in 1973-76 they introduced more models and better artistically designed watch cases and offered them with different stepped cases, dials and other designs like precious wood. Some models had gold plated brass or steel metal alloy cases depending in which Cartier Boutique they were made (NOT silver like the later post 1976 Must De models!). Some of the pre-must models had dials which were offered in lots of different colors like white, black, brown and the rarer color blue, they even introduced a wooden tank watch with a matching wooden dial. All of the Pre-Must models from 1973 and onward had the ETA 2512 movement which Cartier branded the caliber 78-1 aka 78-x.

Today I will start with one of my favourites of the 1973-76 models. Its the artistically designed and oversized ''Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo''. It looked very much like an LC Tank with a rectangle case in the traditional fashion but with some notable differences in design and size. The Stepped Tank is every bit an icon, but with a twist, the way only Cartier can do. It is today the rarest and largest model of the pre-must series. It is basically a Cartier Tank on steroids!



The Stepped Tank came in a few noticeable different variations depending in which boutique it was made (Paris, London or New York). It was introduced somewhere around 1974 and 1975 and came in three similar case models (but with o.. so different references), and I will try to explain these differences.

The oversized Stepped Tank was a true Jumbo compared to the traditional 22mm Tank size. The case measured a whopping 28mm in case diameter and 38mm from lug to lug, which was considered larger than any other Tank model during the 70s and for many years to come ahead.

This specific model seen above is the Cartier Ref: 15176 (New York boutique version). This is the rarest variation of the Stepped Tank series because not many were produced. It was the only model which was 14k (American standard) gold coated on a ''Brass'' metal alloy case (The Paris & London variations were 18k gold coated on ''Steel'' cases). It was produced around 1974-75 in the Cartier boutique New York. It was also the only reference which had a secured ''Four-Screw'' back case (the others had snap back cases). It is also the only one with an unusual large elongated spinnel cabochon crown. It was also the only one which had a recessed area in the case design to protect the winder forming a crown guard. It was also the only reference which had the true Cartier markings and serial numbers. It had punched Cartier logo and text in French language, and punched serial numbers. These case serial numbers on the New York Stepped Tanks should always start with the number 12 followed by its 5 digits case serial number. The other references did not had a serial number on the outside case and where lightly / shallow engraved with the Cartier brand and text. Serial numbers research point out that the ref: 15716 was only produced in max 2500 pieces before it was discontinued in late 1976 which makes it the rarest of the three references.

The Cartier reference 5512116 (London boutique version) had a Smaller spinnel crown. It did 'not' had a recessed area in the case design for the crown. They had a snap back case with no screws. It had a engraved back case (in English language) with No serial numbers on the outside (serial numbers are inside the case). It was issued in gold coated on steel and only max 5000 pieces of the reference 5512116 were ever made before it was discontinued in 1976.

The Cartier (Paris boutique version) had also the same reference 5512116 and had a Small crown and a snap / push back-case with No screws and also did not had a recessed crown guard. It had a engraved back case (in the French language) with No serial numbers (numbers are inside the case). These were also issued in gold coated on steel and also only max 5000 pieces were ever made before it was also discontinued in 1976.







Many of these differences have to do with that Paris & London boutique were based closer together and exchanged the same ideas, designs and stock parts. The New York boutique was a more isolated store on the other side of the globe, and they came up with their own parts and designs which today reflects back in many of the pre 1977 models, and the three different reference variations of the Stepped Tank Jumbo is a good example of this.

All three variations came with a signed Cartier caliber 78-1 hand wind movement which was based on the ETA 2512. And all three had a slightly domed curved ''Natural Crystal Glass'' which was level with the case sides and not raised.

The dials from these series were always signed in the old style Cartier typeface font. They were painted and Cartier back than used a new experimental lacquer paint. Because of this almost all of these Pre-Must dials have patina aged to different colors and developed crackling trough the paint which we consider today to be tropical spider dials. The dials came in white, blue, black and brown with black or gilded hand painted numerals and had sword hands / pointers which came in black, blue and gold.

Overall: These Stepped Tank Jumbo watches can be considered sleepers duo the lack of information out there. They were the last of the line and were produced in very low volumes. The Ref: 15716 New York is the rarest version of the Stepped Tanks, with a production of max 2500 pieces, unlike the Paris and London versions reference 5512116 which each produced in max 5000 pieces and issued in 18k coated gold.

Comparing these Stepped Tank models on rarity with for example an Rolex Daytona (Paul Newman) ref: 6239, which were produced in only 14.000 pieces, the Stepped Tank was produced in much lower quantities. This was because of the low demand duo to the oversized nature and design of the case, and because it was discontinued in late 1976 when the three Cartier boutiques reunite their three branches into one in 1977. Therefore not many of these were produced and sold, and are today very scarce and sought after.

Cartier is not very helpful with releasing their records. But by studying the Cartier literature and researching these watch models over the years by their case serial numbers and differences, rarity, market availability, me and my colleagues have come to the following conclusions.

Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo Ref: 15716 (made in New York) - very rare - gold coated on 'brass alloy' - estimate approx 2500 pieces.

Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo reference 5512116 (made in Paris) - rare - gold coated on 'steel' alloy- estimate approx 5000 pieces.

Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo reference 5512116 (made in London) - rare - gold coated on 'steel' alloy - estimate approx 5000 pieces.

These production numbers are rough and high estimates based on the research done and the case serial numbers found.

For example: up to date the highest number which was found on the reference 15716 New York edition was 02070, so the figure of 2500 pieces is a rough and high estimate.

The London and Paris edition case serial research and resources show that these Paris and London variations are more widely available because they were more popular in West Europa than they were in the United States. So the figure of 5000 pieces each is an rough estimate.

If you find a higher serial number than 2500 on your 15716 New York reference than please contact me with an image of this and I will update this thread.


The London Cartier & Paris Cartier versions were issued in ''18k'' coated gold on ''Steel'', unlike the ref: 15716 New York boutique which was gold coated in ''14k'' (American standard) on ''brass''.

This is an example of a badly polished Paris boutique version were the gold coating has been completely polished away and you can see the bare steel alloy.



Some watch pictures of the Cartier Stepped Tank Jumbo which I found on the net.








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## Doooolay (Jul 22, 2020)

This was super helpful! Thank you for sharing this. Quick question - the back of these Cartiers has inscriptions of "Plaque" of G20 microns which to me sounds like it is gold plated and not gold rolled like you mentioned. Do you have any additional insight on that? I appreciate your input.


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## benbenny (Jan 24, 2016)

Doooolay said:


> This was super helpful! Thank you for sharing this. Quick question - the back of these Cartiers has inscriptions of "Plaque" of G20 microns which to me sounds like it is gold plated and not gold rolled like you mentioned. Do you have any additional insight on that? I appreciate your input.


Happy I could help. 
I see what you mean. I have used the wrong wording and have edited the thread.

I normally don't like to use the word gold plated for items that are minimum 20 micron gold coated. Gold plate tends to refer to a thin layer of gold (usually less than 10-20 microns thick).

These Pre-must watches were minimum 20 micron gold coated. The gold coating on these pre-must watches seems to be much thicker and better quality than the later Must line which was introduced in 1977. My guesses is that they used different electrical/chemical deposition plating techniques before they introduced the Must line to save on costs. The gold on the Must line was much thinner and poorer in quality.

I have edited the original tread and added some pictures showing the differences of the brass and steel cases and few examples of the thickness of the gold coating.


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## xelzh (Jun 25, 2018)

Hi very informative post right here. I'm looking to purchase this watch right here VINTAGE 70s CARTIER TANK PARIS GENTS 18K ELECTROPLATED 23MM MANUAL WIND SERVICED | eBay
but I'm not very sure with the font it looks like it only appeared on the ceinture pre must. Can you give some inputs? Appreciate it a lot.


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## FBMJ (Jan 26, 2012)

This will mess you post, but let's go.
Mine as you said is one of the rarest because it has a blue dial.










But there is more. It has the back case text in english and plus the case design that makes me think it is a londoner. But its reference is 1546, it came with an original (I think) slightly domed acrylic crystal (not glass) and I doubt the case is in steel.


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## t3bkmzd (Aug 30, 2018)

chanced upon this thread and wanted to ask about my tank (pretty sure its pre-must) with tiger eye stone dial. It has the double C but no 'must de cartier' insignia on dial. Is this normal? Would bringing it down to cartier boutique help with verification?


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## benbenny (Jan 24, 2016)

t3bkmzd said:


> chanced upon this thread and wanted to ask about my tank (pretty sure its pre-must) with tiger eye stone dial. It has the double C but no 'must de cartier' insignia on dial. Is this normal? Would bringing it down to cartier boutique help with verification?
> 
> View attachment 16130003


This is a fake Cartier watch made from a Catena watch case. 

See this link for more info 









Reference guide: Fake 1970s Catena Cartier watches -...


click here if you are looking for the reference guide for the 1970s Cartier Tank Wood aka Woody. reference guide Cartier Tank Woody Click here if you are looking for the reference guide for the 1970s Pre-Must Cartier Stepped Tank 1970s Cartier Stepped Tank Its time to set things straight and...




www.watchuseek.com


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## t3bkmzd (Aug 30, 2018)

tks for the clarification and info! I always had my doubts and now its good to know


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## FBMJ (Jan 26, 2012)

In the light:








In the shadow:








It has many shades of blue depending on the light.


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