If last year Cartier announced that the boutique on rue Saint-Honoré would now also offer its customers a selection of antique watches, the jeweler counterpart is nothing new for the brand.
Often highlighted during Cartier's major jewelry highlights, the Maison's Tradition collection is however taking on a new flavor this season in the face of a vintage fever that could soon dominate the new market.
And in the game of second-hand jewelry, it is indeed Cartier that is permanently in the top 3 of the most prominent auction houses (Christie's, Sotheby's or Artcurial to name but a few).
While 1980s finery is already setting records and investors are already looking at pieces designed in the 1990s, how is Cartier positioning itself to promote its own collection?
past found
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Brooch in white and yellow gold, diamonds and rubies, Cartier.
Cartier / Photo press
"We are fully aware that we are not the only ones in this segment", underlines Pierre Raneiro, director of style and heritage of the Cartier house.
“Our goal with Cartier Tradition remains to represent the different stylistic currents that have made the history of the house, not to accumulate value,” he continues.
However, how to organize the curation of such a project?
Internally, the process is well established.
Both Pierre Raneiro and the curator and the various players in the Tradition section meet regularly to discuss the interest of adding a particular brooch or bracelet to the collection.
Their gaze still glued to the price tracking chart that the team has patiently created and updated over time,
and more particularly in recent years in the face of the soaring second-hand market.
Once authenticated and checked by the experts of the house, this same jewel certainly sees its price increase, but it can also be seen again a few months later under the heritage flag because another more emblematic piece of this current will have appeared on the market.
But if the exercise may seem easier on signature pieces from the Art Deco years or emblematic of the charm of the 70's, how to maintain the distance necessary to gauge pieces born barely thirty years ago?
"We have always said to ourselves that we were not destined to become a museum", adds Pierre Raneiro, "Of course we have our own opinion on what can be interesting, but our perspective can change, especially mine, which has seen be born many of these adornments.
So we remain modest and we will always consult specialists outside the brand”.
While awaiting future acquisitions to replace those sold to customers who have come to admire the treasures of Cartier's new fine jewelry in Madrid, baptized "Beauties of the World", the brand's attention remains focused on the current construction site of the
iconic boutique at 13 rue de la Paix.
If we still know little about this highly anticipated reopening, scheduled for next October, it is already certain that the fragments of Cartier Tradition history will take pride of place there.
This is enough to preserve and stir up the interest of Cartier's historical customers internally, rather than seeing them create desires elsewhere.