Diary Of A Roman Numeral Hater: Three Years With The Cartier Santos-Dumont XL W2SA0025

The Cartier Santos-Dumont has always had a steeper hill to climb than many of its siblings. It doesn’t have the sportiness and versatility of the Santos de Cartier and it doesn’t have the iconic “seminal dress watch” aura of the Tank. But… there is nothing like being the first, is there? The old story about Louis Cartier designing the very first men’s wristwatch for his good friend and aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont is the stuff of legend that dates back to somewhere between 1904 and 1911. In the 1970s, Cartier opted to transition to the luxury sport watch market and repositioned the collection as the Santos de Cartier, which remains a staple to this day. Though the Santos 100 had been introduced in 2004, it wasn’t until 2018 that the dressy Santos-Dumont made a proper comeback.

Still, as much as I loved the idea of a Cartier watch, none of its releases really spoke to me and I suspect my natural disdain for Roman numerals was largely the cause. This was until 2021, when Cartier released a pair of Santos-Dumont XL limited- edition watches with — that’s right— Arabic numerals! There was the Ref. WGSA0048 platinum model with an ice-blue guilloché dial, which was limited to 100 pieces, and the Ref. W2SA0025 two-tone steel and pink gold model, with a copper/salmon guilloché dial, which was limited to 500 pieces. Needless to say, I was immediately obsessed with these. And as much as I loved the platinum model, it was the two-tone W2SA0025 that would worm its way into my heart and eventually onto my wrist. 

In a lot of ways, this is the Cartier for those of us who could never fully commit to a Cartier in the past. I’ve had this watch for almost three years now and I still feel like it is Cartier’s most beautiful contemporary release, alongside the Tank Louis Ref. WGTA0175 and WGTA0176 with the mosaic dials. I know a lot of people love the Santos-Dumont with the lacquered bezels that were released in 2022 but, again, those Roman numerals are just too stuffy for me (but damn, that lacquer looks amazing). Oh, there was also a trio of these with Arabic numerals released this year in 2024, though they were only in gold and platinum.

The W2SA0025 is technically considered an XL (Extra Large) though the 33.9mm wide and 7.5mm thick case with a 46.6mm lug-to-lug measurement (30 meters of water resistance) makes the “X” in the designation seem a little, well, extra. The thinness and gentle curve on the lugs goes a long way in the wearability factor. Yes, I am specifically talking about a sold-out limited model here, but I know several people who are scared off by the standard Santos-Dumont XL because of the naming. Just try it out before thinking this is going to look comically large. My wrist measurement is just a hair over 6.75” and I think it wears perfectly. The case is finished nicely and I especially appreciate the case band curving down at the lugs with nice beveling throughout. And, of course, that blue cabochon done in synthetic sapphire is always such a beautiful addition.

The slimness of the case is thanks to the movement, Caliber 430 MC, which is essentially a modified take on the Piaget 430P. This manual-wind movement is the epitome of “good enough," operating at 3 Hz with a 38-hour power reserve. In all honesty, all there is to say about it is that it’s manual winding slim, and reliable. Another thing I want to briefly go over is the strap, which is of really excellent quality and is very well integrated with the lugs. Naturally it has the Cartier pin buckle with a raised bridge that keeps the strap nice and flat. The strap has a quick-change system that I will likely never use again, because it is just so finicky and difficult to operate.

Fortunately, this watch avoids my second pet peeve (after Roman numerals, of course). I detest exhibition casebacks just for the sake of an exhibition caseback. If there’s nothing to see, I don’t need to see it! That said, I prefer this to the much more common quartz Santos-Dumonts out there. The Santos-Dumont W2SA0025 has a nice enclosed caseback done with an engraving of Alberto Santos-Dumont’s No.19 aircraft.

The central square of the dial has a mesmerizing and very attractive spiral stamped guilloché with the Cartier nameplate and railroad minutes track done using red font which is, of course, their signature color that is rarely ever used like this. The blued hands nicely match the crown and contrast wonderfully with the dial as if it’s a rotating splash of coolness against the warmth of that copper/salmon. Finally, yes, there are the rhodium-plated, applied Arabic numerals that occupy the brushed outer section of the dial. This dial is what this watch is all about. The two-tone may not be to everyone’s taste but I have been truly and completely smitten with this watch since I first saw a press image of it.

This Santos-Dumont is the kind of watch that always attracts attention but, more importantly, brings a smile to my face (and if you know me, you’ll know that’s not an easy task). A magnificent dress watch that oozes design and style. Is it for everyday? Absolutely not, but the days that I wear it are always something special.