WSNM0005, DRIVE DE CARTIER RETROGRADE GMT, SILVER DIAL

A ref. WSNM0005, the Drive de Cartier Large Date, Retrograde Second Time Zone and Day/Night Indicator in steel. The silver dial is finished in a fine guilloché pattern, and over it sits a whole travel toolkit: a large date, a second time zone that sweeps across an arc and snaps back, and a day and night indicator. Black Roman numerals keep it unmistakably Cartier. The cushion case is softly curved, wide at the shoulders and comfortable on the wrist. Inside runs the automatic calibre 1904-FU MC. This one wears on a black alligator strap and was photographed with its Cartier box.

Cartier introduced the Drive de Cartier in 2016 as a new men's line built around the cushion shape, a form the house had worked with for over a century. The brief was quietly ambitious: a gentleman's watch with automotive inspiration in its curves, clearly Cartier yet unlike the Santos, Tank or Calibre. The guilloché dial and Roman numerals connected it to Cartier's classic language, while the case gave it a new silhouette. The Retrograde Second Time Zone followed in 2017, putting a traveller's complication into the collection. It remains one of the most technical expressions of the Drive.

We sourced it for the retrograde hand. Watch the second time zone travel its arc and then jump back to start again, a small piece of theatre that most GMT watches simply do not offer. Pair that with a large date and a day and night indicator, and you have a genuinely useful travel watch dressed as a Cartier. Look closer at the dial and the guilloché pattern runs underneath everything, a fine engraved texture that rewards a second look. The cushion case is a shape few brands can pull off without it feeling retro, and Cartier makes it feel current. It is the most interesting watch in the Drive collection, and it knows it. Curated with intent.