A Time-Telling Accessory for Your Bag or Belt
The latest addition to Cartier’s Libre Polymorph high jewellery collection serves as a functional carabiner clip and watch.
The Cartier Carabiner is not your traditional timepiece. The pièce unique, part of Cartier’s Libre Polymorph high jewellery collection, serves as a functional carabiner clip and watch. Fashioned in the shape of a triangular carabiner, the main body and watch dial are snow-set with diamonds. A sapphire cabochon is surrounded by more diamonds and channel-set rubies. The watch case is framed with prong-set sapphires and emeralds. Beads of turquoise, black spinel, chrysoprase, onyx, and lapis lazuli flank the timepiece on both sides. A lot of bling for such a little thing, and that is precisely the point—Cartier has the clout and knows its customer. Beyond the striking design, what makes this carabiner cool chic is the way the maison suggests wearing it: attached to your belt loop or bag. “We must make it our business to build up an inventory that responds to the mood of the public by producing articles which have a useful function but which are also decorated in the Cartier style,” Louis Cartier is known to have said. Hair clips, mystery clocks, objets d’art—Cartier has a rich history of creating pieces that go beyond the realm of traditional jewellery. And with the Carabiner, Cartier gives us a high-jewellery take on a mountain climbing accessory.
