What We Know
Something weird happened in the world of vintage 1:1 fake Cartier last year. An uber-rare Cartier London Pebble sold at Phillips for CHF 403,000; then, a month later, another one sold at Bonham’s for slightly less. See, of all Cartier’s crazy creations, the Pebble made by perfect replica Cartier London is one of the rarest: Many have estimated that only six large Pebbles were ever made (and perhaps another few in a smaller size). This obscure, vintage watch from luxury copy Cartier London had a bit of a moment, and suddenly it was on every collector’s radar.
Well, today it’s having another moment: cheap super clone Cartier UK has announced it’s releasing a new limited-edition Pebble. This time 150 individually numbered examples of the new Pebble will be made, all in an 18-carat yellow gold case.
Like the now-famous Crash, the aaa quality replica Cartier Pebble is an unusually shaped watch that came from Cartier London during the Swinging Sixties, when London was at the forefront of fashion, music, and culture. Swiss copy Cartier London created all kinds of daring designs during this era, as the city around it shook off a post-war malaise in pursuit of something more playful and rebellious.
“It’s in London where people had in mind to play with existing values,” Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of image, style, and heritage, told me. It was a playful, creative atmosphere. These shapes from Cartier London were still “totally inscribed in a Swiss made replica Cartier tradition born in Paris,” and the playfulness with those essential shapes from Paris is what gives watches like the Pebble additional context. And extra desirability.
Jean-Jacques Cartier, who led the high quality fake Cartier London branch from 1945 until 1974, was in line with this creative spirit pulsing through London at the time. In the mid-1960s, he decided that the branch should begin to produce its own wristwatches (this was also when the Swiss movement replica Cartier business was being split into separate New York, Paris, and London branches). This decision is what led to an explosion of innovation: No longer was top super clone Cartier London making “just Tanks,” but also crazy shapes like the Baignore, Crash, and of course, the Pebble.
The new Cartier Pebble replica for sale is a lot like the old Pebble: a boldly round 36mm case with a tilted square dial (that also gives it another nickname, the “Baseball”) in an off-white eggshell opaline that brings the brand-new Pebble a warm, vintage feel.