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The Tank à Vis draws inspiration from one of the most elusive watches ever made by Cartier: the Tank Étanche. A company with a history as rich as Cartier’s is bound to be the subject of some mythmaking and exaggeration as well. One of the more fascinating stories is about the Pasha of Marrakech, who commissioned Cartier to build a waterproof watch in the 1930s to be taken along during his daily swims. Supposedly, Cartier created an oversized round watch for him, a model that would be reintroduced in the 1980s as the flashy Pasha de Cartier. It is unlikely that this is accurate, as the tastes of the time were much more in line with classic rectangular watches like the Tank. It is much more likely that the Pasha ordered a Tank Étanche, a unique waterproof version of the classic Tank for this purpose. The Tank Étanche is one of the rarest models ever made by Cartier. Only one has come up for auction in recent years, when Phillips sold a Tank Étanche in 2019 that was purchased in the 1930s by the American socialite Barbara Hutton. The Tank Étanche subsequently served as inspiration for several Tank à Vis models that were introduced as part of the exclusive and limited “Collection Priveé Cartier Paris” (CPCP). This ref. 2551 from the early 2000s features a rectangular 18k yellow-gold case, measuring 40 x 28 mm. Just like the Tank Étache that inspired it, the Tank à Vis sports an H-shaped bezel with screws in each corner. The exquisite handmade dial is divided in two halves, each capable of displaying a different time zone. As with all of the CPCP watches, the dial is crafted from 18k gold, covered with a layer that contains fine guilloché engraving and a rose motif in the centre. The dial, of course, features Cartier’s painted black Roman numerals and elegant blued sword hands that match well with the iconic sapphire-tipped gold crown. The 2551 is powered by the exquisitely finished ultra-thin caliber 9901MC manual winding movement that is visible through the see-through sapphire case back. The watch comes on a burgundy alligator-leather Cartier strap with an 18k yellow-gold Cartier deployant clasp.