Until recently, there was a bit of gatekeeping going on with vintage Cartier replica for sale. To many collectors who had been around for years, “true” vintage Cartier excluded watches like the ’80s Santos we have here and only referred to early 1970s watches and older, with an emphasis on those coming out of Cartier London. It is true that Swiss made fake Cartier expanded their wristwatch offerings across the three branches of the brand, London, Paris, and New York, during this period, yet the result of this expansion is possibly even more interesting to collect than those Pebbles, Cintrées, and Crashes that came before.
In terms of a model line, not even the Tank is as historically significant to luxury replica Cartier UK as the Santos. With roots back to 1904, the Santos-Dumont is officially recognized as the first mass-produced or serially-produced wristwatch when in 1911, by popular demand, cheap super clone Cartier offered the square-shaped watch to clients not named Alberto Santos-Dumont. Six or eight years later, depending on who you ask, the first Tank was “introduced” or whatever that meant in 1919. Regardless of the year a top copy Cartier Santos was made, the watch is one steeped in history and not even the snootiest of vintage collectors can deny that.
The best 1:1 fake Cariter Santos Galbée ref. 2961 is, in name, not a watch that is hard to find or really all that interesting to me. Sure, if you’re looking for a nice value-play in the Cartier arena, a two-tone Santos from the ’80s is not a bad pickup but, honestly, it is not going to make my ears perk up, or yours probably. Where this AAA quality replica Cartier Santos becomes special should be obvious at this point but, of course, it is the red dial. While it is not confirmed, you can find references to this dial and hand combination being released to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Santos in 1979. An anniversary watch or not, the resulting look of the lacquered deep burgundy dial is really stunning in the metal.
The condition of our Cartier Santos replica for sale here is really clean with a strong case and what I would call a flawless finish to the dial and hands. Best of all, the watch has been fully serviced by our in-house watchmaker – check it out right here in the Hodinkee shop.