About the Must de Cartier "Tank Ronde Vendome" and other watches we handle

About "Must de Cartier" offered by our company

In this article, we would like to talk about the thoughts and feelings behind the “Must de Cartier” series of vintage watches that have been produced since the 1970s and that we handle, as well as the trial and error we went through to arrive at this conclusion.

If you don't know much about the Must de Cartier watches, please watch this video for a detailed explanation.

Due to the recent popularity of vintage watches, it seems that many customers are attracted to the Must de Cartier collection.

Although these are vintage watches, our company takes an in-depth look at each and every watch and strives to offer them to our customers.

About the characteristics of Must de Cartier

This is a must-have series that began production in the 1970s, and the case is made of pure silver, sterling silver 925, which is then coated with 20μ thick 18K gold, a process called vermeil.

Gold leaf is 0.1μ, so the plating is equivalent to the thickness of 200 sheets.

Even though both the base material and the plating on top are made of high-quality materials, they are popular because they have a good design, are small and easy to use.

Unfortunately, since 30 to 40 years have passed since the watches were manufactured, most of the time the watches have scratches, and it is very difficult to find a beautiful example.

Even watches with such scratches can be restored to their beautiful condition with a good polishing, but as explained earlier, the plating is 20μ thick, so the more the watch is polished, the thinner it becomes.

In short, although we don't know how much the watches that come into our hands have been polished, we can say for sure that they are in a state that is as close to the bare metal as possible.

 

The challenge of re-plating

For these reasons, we thought that what we should do was to remove the scratches, re-plate the item, and then offer it to our customers in a beautiful condition.

From there, I started looking for a company that would do the plating.

There are many companies in Japan that specialize in plating, but surprisingly few that can plate watches, and I spent a considerable amount of time searching for a workshop.

I looked for and contacted companies in Fukuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, etc. that might be able to plate watches, but I was told they couldn't do the job, so I thought I would have to give up on dealing in Cartier watches.

Then, we heard there was a company in Tokyo that would do the plating, so we decided to ask them to do it.

We then had the watch plated and sent it back to us.

The watch shone so beautifully that the base metal was no longer visible, and with this finish we felt we could give it to a customer.

Plating incongruity

That's how I found a mysterious watch among the several watches I had brought out.

Although it was difficult to tell unless you looked closely, some parts of the watch looked slightly black, perhaps due to discoloration of the plating.

I tried polishing it with silver cleaner to see if it was thin or just a little dirty.

By the way, I also deal in Western antiques, including French and British sterling silver cutlery, so I believe I know much more about cleaners and the like than most people.

This is my antique shop, so please come and see if you are interested.

Antique tableware available here

Returning to the topic, I tried wiping the parts on the back that were a different color with a cleaner.

I then realized that the plating in that area was thin, allowing the underlying silver to show through, and that because that area was thin, it appeared faintly black.

I then tried polishing the area I removed from the black looking part, but even here the base material became visible with just a light wipe.

I wasn't able to take a photo at the time, but below is a Cartier watch experiencing the same phenomenon.

You can see that the gold plating on the case itself is quite thin.

I have tried many different silver cleaners in the past, and since it is important with cutlery that it requires minimal polishing, I chose to use the best cleaner that gives the best results.

Even though I used that cleaner, this still happened, which led me to a question.

"First of all, how many microns is this? "

At the same time,

"When it was first sold, the gold plating certainly looked beautiful, but as you continued to use it, even if you probably didn't use it very often, the base metal would start to show through."

And that's it.

I don't know how thin it actually is.

I feel like it's about as thick as permanent marker.

However, surprisingly, it looks beautiful and at first glance you can't tell it's a thin plating.

The company did the plating cheaply and had a quick delivery time, and the only problem I was having was the thinness, so maybe it would be fine to leave it as it is...

It's a used item after all, so isn't it fine if it's in good condition when you sell it without being too picky?

These thoughts ran through my mind over and over again.

To be honest, I had repeatedly contacted companies that would do the plating, and just when I thought I had finally found one, the terms were not right and the deal fell through; I had repeated this process so many times that I really didn't want to do that again.

If I had not had the experience described above and had no idea about it, I probably would have sold it in its original thin plated state.

However, after that experience, I don't think I can confidently say that the watches I sell are great products!

And I have to start over from scratch.

Searching for a plating factory again

That said, in reality, I had already exhausted most of my options when looking for a plating factory last time, so I spent about three months just thinking about what to do and doing nothing.

Then I got myself together again and made a list of all the plating factories I had contacted and wondered why I hadn't asked them.

One factory came up.

The reason was simple: plating was expensive.

The reason I chose the Tokyo factory over this one was the price.

Although I knew that the plating was thick, In fact, at that time, there was still a naive idea that if the watch was made of gold, it would be of a certain thickness, so if I went to a cheaper place, I would be able to get a cheaper watch.

However, after having this experience, I began to think that there must be a reason why plating costs are so low, and that there must also be a good reason why they are so expensive.

At this point, I decided to contact the company again to find out more details.

And the factory, which I still use today, told me that it is capable of gold plating with a thickness of 5μ.

I knew it was expensive, but I thought that customers would be pleased and would be able to use it for a long time if I gave them something with a thick 5μ plating rather than just applying a very thin layer of plating just for the time being.

As we are still using this factory, unfortunately I will not disclose the location of the factory here, but it was thanks to this background that we were able to find a factory that provides high-quality re-plating.

I have a clear view of values ​​when it comes to products.

This means that it is important to deliver high-quality products, and that customers demand high quality.

We understand that quality is what our customers want.

Among the various conversations I had with my mother and the words she would say at random times, there are some words that I can never forget.

My mother is currently 60 years old, so I think people older than that age will understand, but although it's hard to imagine now, Uniqlo's quality used to be not so good.

I think this was before fleece was invented.

Uniqlo was already there when I was in the fifth or sixth grade, but when I went shopping with my mother at the store, while I was trying on clothes in the fitting room,

"Uniqlo is also a country where you get what you pay for."

I heard him say to himself.

My family was not wealthy, but just an ordinary family, but we bought food from Green Coop, which was a little more expensive than other stores, and even I, a child at the time, could tell that we placed importance on quality when buying things.

I understand that not everyone feels the same way, but I think there are many people, especially women, who feel the same way.

What confidence does a watch give you?

A watch is not just an item for checking the time.

It was Andy Warhol "I wore it because it was a watch I could wear. I didn't just use it to tell time."

From what you've said, there must be other factors at play that play a larger role.

In particular, since a watch is something you will see while you are working, you want to choose a good one.

I think the important thing is whether it suits you and feels right, whether it gives you energy, and whether it makes you excited every time you see it.

To sum it up in one word, it's "confidence."

If you're a man, you'll think to yourself, "I look so cool wearing this watch!" and you'll feel more confident when you wear it.

This confidence will translate into better work performance every day, which will lead to increased work efficiency.

Women probably want to be able to think to themselves, "When I wear this, I can feel confident and stand tall without being intimidated by others, or feeling subservient."

I think that your confidence will change dramatically depending on whether or not you have in mind the values ​​of the company that made such a watch, how it was finished, and whether or not it is a vintage watch that has been newly revived.

summary

When a store manager who deals in antiques and other collectibles comes across a watch, he wonders if there is some way to breathe new life into the watch and bring it back to life like this.

I told you about this episode of struggle.

Having done this, I can offer my products to customers with confidence as a seller.

As I also talk about when selling antiques, vintage watches are also a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I don't know how you feel about finding our company and listening to me, but I think I might consider buying a Must de Cartier from this company.

If that's what you think, then I couldn't be happier.