Cartier Ballon Bleu Skeleton Steel Watch #CA000054

The Cartier Ballon Bleu is round on the top and round underneath, but if you look closer, you'll see that its shape is somewhat more complex: a watch that seems to fit the wrist weightlessly, as if the two were already acquainted. Masculine or feminine? Cartier plays with the shapes. Close up, the Ballon Bleu surprises. The winding mechanism is decorated with a sapphire cabochon, around which the dial orbits, and is more imposing than ever before due to a precious metal protective arch. With soft curves reminiscent of a pebble and a case that is rounded on both sides, the style is somewhere between classic and futuristic. The glass magnifies the numbers and distorts time. The Roman numerals, displaced by the winding mechanism, stray from their usual path. The guilloche dial, the sword-shaped hands, the links of solid gold or solid brushed steel for the bracelet...at first glance, the latest model from the House of Cartier joins Cartier's horology galaxy of time, with one exception. Ballon Bleu? There is something unfamiliar about the name, a promise of a new horology planet. With its diffracted roundness, extra-blue winding mechanism, and elliptical profile, the Cartier Ballon Bleu watch draws a line between past and future, between what we know and what we would like to know about the universe and time.