Even more alluring without a clasp: Cartier’s new Myst de Cartier watch is a refined jewelry piece that understands how to tell time
So beautiful 🤩 it’s basically a work of art on your wrist!
Summary
- The new Myst de Cartier watch from Cartier boldly does away with the traditional clasp, using a seamless flexible chain design instead so it can slip onto the wrist as easily as a talisman.
- The yellow gold version is set with 634 diamonds, and the black lacquer is hand-painted over 30 hours at the Maison des Métiers d'Art workshop in Switzerland.
- The collection also includes a white gold full-diamond model, with the case and bracelet set with a total of 986 brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 9.17 carats.
- Official pricing and launch dates for Hong Kong and Taiwan have not yet been announced, so anyone interested will need to wait for further confirmation from the brand.
Sometimes, the passage of time needs to be captured in its most dazzling form. While our idea of a watch may still be rooted in leather straps and metal folding clasps, Cartier offers an answer filled with poetry and mystery. The newly introduced Myst de Cartier watch is more than a tool for telling time; it is a high jewelry piece in the guise of a timepiece. Boldly breaking with convention, it reinterprets the sculptural style pioneered in the 1930s by former creative director Jeanne Toussaint.
Clasp-free design: a mysterious chain like a talisman
What truly captures the heart is this timepiece’s unexpectedly ingenious construction. Myst de Cartier dispenses with a conventional clasp, replacing it with a flexible chain that creates a visual illusion. Each component is closely linked like beads, allowing it to slip effortlessly onto the wrist and fit perfectly. The curved crystal and diamond-paved square dial are outlined by a deep onyx border and accented with a triangular hour marker, creating a captivating contrast between rounded curves and crisp geometric lines.
30 hours of work: exacting stone-setting and lacquerwork
Beneath its exquisite exterior lies an exceptionally demanding technical challenge. To create the captivating layers and dimension of the yellow gold version, jewelers used a four-grain setting technique to precisely arrange as many as 634 diamonds in varying sizes, totaling approximately 6.13 carats. The setting alone takes 30 hours. Meanwhile, at the Maison des Métiers d’Art in Switzerland, artisans hand-paint each black lacquer line, creating a striking visual tension between the deep black and sparkling diamonds.
Monochrome at its finest: a white gold version with 986 diamonds
Beyond the yellow gold and black lacquer version, Cartier’s designers take opulence a step further with an all-diamond white gold model. This monochromatic work of art is set with 986 round brilliant-cut diamonds across its case and bracelet, totaling approximately 9.17 carats. As light shifts across the wrist, it makes the already ingenious wave-like design shine even more brilliantly.
With such an intricate, dimensional timepiece, what truly moves you is not its quartz movement or 30-meter water resistance, but the sense of ease with which it blurs the line between jewelry and watches. From the Cartier Libre creations introduced in recent years to the Tressage collection, the brand has continued to soften and refine its structured silhouettes, and this new piece sits right at the heart of that captivating shift. A truly precious timepiece is no longer merely an accessory: it whispers with light at the wrist, yet has the power to define an entire evening.
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