Cartier Santos Titanium Review: The First Full Titanium Cartier

The Santos is Cartier’s own resident sports watch. With over a century under its belt, the Santos is among the brand’s most iconic designs, and strikes as somewhat the more robust, laid-back spiritual cousin of the brand’s dressy icon, the Tank. I would argue that the Santos is also kind of the Cartier for people who don’t typically like Cartier, who find the brand's refined, elevated catalog somewhat alienating or restricting. Until recently, Cartier did not seem to be keen on experimenting much with materials for its selection of watches, instead leaning exclusively on the more classic precious metals and steel as its preferred method of expression. But that’s all changed with the introduction of the new titanium take on the Santos, which is the first time the brand has dared to produce a piece fully in the watch world’s favorite lightweight material. Down below, I’ll be breaking down everything you need to know about the Santos de Cartier Titanium (before you try it on for yourself, hopefully), as well as some personal musings on what I think this means for the wider world of Cartier. But before we get into that, let’s start with a little history primer, shall we?

[toc-section heading="Cartier Santos Context and History"]

Our story begins well over a century ago, at a time when watchmakers were just gaining the confidence to lean into the shift towards wrist watches, and away from the pocket watch. Originally designed in 1904 by Louis Cartier and specifically geared towards the practical needs of Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, the Santos, at its core, is Cartier’s first purpose-driven watch design, and its first wristwatch design. It’s also credited as one of the first aviation watches ever created. Though I still think that the brand is still mostly associated in the popular imagination with the Tank, the Santos inarguably came first, with production beginning in 1908 (the Tank debuted in 1917). In 1906, Santos-Dumont became the first person ever to be filmed in a flying airplane, and during this landmark event, he was, of course, wearing his specially designed Cartier Watch. Originally taking its name directly from the aviator, the Cartier Santos-Dumont watch was released to the general public in 1911. Already, the key design elements were at play, including the now-iconic square case, a simple dial with Roman numerals marking the hours, and the Cabochon crown. In its early days, this watch was quite petite, measuring just 24.8 x 34.8 mm, was only made in yellow gold and platinum, and was always paired with a strap. 

A big rebrand was on the horizon for the Santos-Dumont in the 70s, as the sport-luxury integrated bracelet watch madness began to set in (which we have Gérald Genta to thank for). Capitalizing on this new design language, in 1978, Cartier took its old faithful Santos-Dumont and gave it the luxury sports watch remix with the debut of the Santos de Cartier. Pairing the square case design with an all-metal bracelet carrying the exposed screw details onto every articulating link, the Santos de Cartier also introduced the more accessible two-tone steel and yellow gold into the mix. This seemingly simple change transformed the brand’s oldest wristwatch design into something that was luxury for everyday, and more in step with the changing aesthetics and attitudes of the time. 

The established Santos de Cartier format has remained largely unchanged since its debut. The story has largely been one of refining, rather than reinvention. There was some aesthetic funkiness introduced through the 80s and 90s, like when the brand made the Octagonal-shaped Santos. But other than expanding the range of sizing options, refining and slimming out some of the architecture, and (finally) moving to Cartier-produced movements, the spirit of the brand’s resident sports-luxury watch has held strong. Because of this reliance on subtle tweaks over obvious changes, the introduction of the Titanium Santos de Cartier feels all the more dramatic. 

[toc-section heading="Reviewing The Cartier Santos Titanium"]

Case and Wear

While this isn’t Cartier’s first time ever dabbling in titanium (some skeletonized renditions of the Santos-Dumont have had titanium cases), this is the first time that the brand has released a piece with both a titanium case and bracelet. I have to say, I don’t think Cartier could have picked a better vehicle to test out this move. Currently, the titanium Santos de Cartier is only available for its largest sizing option, measuring 47mm by 39.8mm with a slim case profile of just 9.4mm. As someone who gravitates towards watches on the tiny side, this is a bummer. 

The finishing techniques on the case and bracelet are quite remarkable. Bead-blasted finish is predominantly used, offering a refined, matte finish, but there are some dashes of brightly polished edges that make everything feel even more dynamic. But the real strength of this new addition to the Santos de Cartier family is just how light it is. I would go so far as to call it feather light. Proportionally, this size is just too big for my wrist, but even still, I was blown away by how comfortable it physically felt. Weighing only 97 grams, the Santos titanium is about 43% lighter than the Large steel version (which is 147 g).  If your wrist is big enough to pull it off, this is a watch that you could easily forget about while wearing it in the best way. It’s sleek, unobtrusive, and, for lack of better phrasing, just feels kind of sexy. As for the bracelet, we’ve got the classic, riveted single links, along with a QuickSwitch system for swapping the bracelet out for a strap. 

The Dial

In classic Cartier fashion, we’re not reinventing the wheel here in the dial department. Nor do I want them to. The layout remains unchanged: oversized, printed Roman numerals marking the hours, the very Art Deco railroad minutes track, and the “Cartier” logo at twelve and the “automatic denotation just above six, all set against the white dial backdrop. As this is the large-sized Santos de Cartier, afterall, we also have the date window taking the place of the numeral at six o’clock.

[toc-section heading="Movement"]

As you probably guessed from the “Automatic” script dial-side, we are, in fact, in automatic mechanical movement territory here. Specifically, the Cartier Santos titanium utilizes the 1847 MC, which has a 4 Hz frequency and 42-hour power reserve. The caseback is closed, so you will not be seeing this caliber in action, but that’s par for the course in the Cartier catalog, unless we’re in the realms of the haute-horology-oriented Cartier Privé collection. 

[toc-section heading="Final Thoughts and Pricing"]

With its sports-luxury design ethos (and 100 meters of water resistance to boot), adding a titanium take on the Santos de Cartier seems like a logical progression for the collection, albeit an unexpected one. While the titanium Santos is only available currently in the large size, I think we can expect to see the more versatile sizing options get the titanium remix, hopefully in the not-so-distant future. At the time of writing, the titanium Santos de Cartier is priced at $11,500.