With the aviation industry growing at unprecedented rates, one pioneering Brazilian aviator saw the need for a particular kind of tool - a pilot’s watch. So, this aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont, went to Louis Cartier in 1904 and asked him to design a watch fit for flight. This watch became the Cartier Santos Dumont, the very first tool watch. Evolving through time as an extensive array of wonderful models, the Santos Dumont has become one of watchmaking’s most iconic designs, and is famed for creating the humble wristwatch as we know it. The Santos Dumont reference we have here is the ref. 8210, an elegant 27mm unisex variant of the objectively timeless timepiece. Featuring a polished round-edged bezel sitting atop a satin-brushed case with polished bevelling, the Santos Dumont’s case toys with light in a playful manner. Fitted with Cartier’s signature white dial, with black Roman numerals encircled by a railroad minute track and blued steel hands, the ref. 8210's aesthetic is unashamedly classical and refined. Powered by the manual-wind cal. 7339, the ref. 8210’s mechanics speaks to Cartier’s sense of tradition, while its design speaks to their aesthetic as a powerhouse of style and form.

Imbued with Cartier's iconic design and its own heritage as the world's first tool watch, the Santos Dumont is important as the timepiece that set the entire industry as we know it today into motion.