All-in Asymétrique. This Macau-edition only knows 22 examples with the crown on the left side. Highrollers only.

The Tank Asymétrique—or Tank Parallélogramme, Oblique or Losange as it was known during its early days—came out in 1936 as a driver’s watch. Due to its parallelogram shaped case and slanted dial, the Asymétrique would be oriented upright when one would have their hands on a steering wheel.

The Tank Asymétrique is one of the rarest of Cartier creations with very few of the original Asymétrique known to exist. The Asymétrique was revived in the mid-1990s. Since then, the Asymétrique has seen a handful of releases, each time in very small production runs.

This exquisite Tank Asymétrique was produced for a special occasion in 1999, when Macau was handed over from Portugal to China. They made 99 pieces, hence the 9 o’clock marker that is enhanced with an extra applied number in yellow gold, matching the case material.

This is the rarest version of the already scarcely produced ref. 2488, as it has the crown on the left hand side. Only 22 examples are created as “lefties”, whilst the remaining 77 have the crown on the traditional side of the case.

Apart from the cool and quirky 99 on the dial, the iconic Roman numerals are present with the famed railroad minutetrack. The dial surface shows a beautiful guilloche motive.

The backside is also quite impressive. The see-through caseback showcases the manual-wound cal 92P.

This creation remains in LNOS condition and is supplied with the original strap and deployant clasp. It initially was purchased in the Netherlands. (Yes, these were worldwide available and not exclusively in Macau). Besides the papers it also comes with the original CPCP box.