Cover Cartier’s creative director of watches and jewellery tells Tatler how the maison balances heritage and innovation
Cartier’s creative director of watches and jewellery tells Tatler how the maison balances heritage and innovation
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Cartier’s creative director of watches and jewellery tells Tatler how the maison preserves its heritage while embracing modernity, why intuition guides every decision, and what she envisions for the next generation of watch lovers.
Each spring, watch enthusiasts flock to Geneva for Watches and Wonders, the ultimate celebration of horological artistry. At this year’s exhibition, Cartier reaffirmed its singular place in both watchmaking and high jewellery. Highlights included the return of the legendary Tank à Guichets, a striking new take on the Tank Louis Cartier, sculptural creations from the Tressage line, and majestic Panthère masterpieces from the high jewellery collection. Each design reflects Cartier’s enduring philosophy: to honour its heritage while continually redefining the boundaries of design and craftsmanship.
Tatler met Marie-Laure Cérède, Cartier’s creative director for watches and jewellery, at the event. She spoke about her vision for uniting the maison’s dual worlds, her hopes for its next chapter, and a special preview of one of 2025’s most anticipated designs.
Read more: The sound and shape of time: why mechanical watches are wearable art
Above Marie-Laure Cérède, creative director of Cartier watches and jewellery
Marie-Laure Cérède, creative director of Cartier watches and jewellery
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Cartier is renowned for uniting watchmaking and jewellery. What does this fusion mean to you, and how do you ensure its success?
Marie-Laure Cérède: It’s a constant balance between reason and emotion. I see it as my duty to “energise the past” — refining and modernising our icons — while expanding the maison’s style territory through new shapes, colours, combinations and daring ideas. The key lies in finding harmony between innovation and timelessness.
When you start a new design, how do you know when it’s complete?
MLC: That moment arrives at the very end. To be honest, we don’t always succeed — sometimes, after months of work, a design still doesn’t feel right. You can’t always explain why, but you sense it. We have a saying: “This is Cartier.” It’s an instinct rather than a rule, but everyone here recognises when it happens. The client senses it too. When a creation carries that spirit, we know it’s ready.
How do you balance technical development with Cartier’s heritage?
MLC: It’s both vital and challenging. Every design begins by hand, with sketches, no computers in the early stages because that’s where emotion is born. Once that emotion takes shape, we integrate the technical elements and elevate them to match the design’s spirit. For example, we waited years before launching a larger version of the Tank Louis Cartier, simply because no movement existed that preserved its proportions. For us, technique must serve design and we always raise the technical bar to meet that ideal.
Read more: 5 luxury watches that inspire creativity and bold expression
Above Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets
Cartier Privé Tank à Guichets
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How do you coordinate between the watch and jewellery workshops?
MLC: It’s surprisingly natural. What others might see as a constraint is, for us, an advantage. Cartier is a jewellery maison first, so our approach to watchmaking differs from traditional horologists. We pay extraordinary attention to proportions and ergonomics, nearly half the time spent on a new creation goes into perfecting them. That jeweller’s sensitivity is what lends Cartier watches their distinctive refinement.
What boundaries would you like to push in the next decade?
MLC: I want Cartier to create watches that appeal to a younger generation, those who may not wear watches today but will want to in the future. Achieving that would be immensely rewarding. We can’t only look back; we must imagine how timepieces will live in a new era.
Can you share an example of how you’ve refreshed an existing icon?
MLC: Take the Tank, for instance. We revisited all its historic models and chose the 1928 version as the foundation for this year’s Tank à Guichets. We developed a new movement, one millimetre thinner than the 2005 model, and refined the jumping-hour display for smoother motion. For collectors, we introduced a platinum edition with a subtle update, a new shape for the display windows. It took a year to perfect, but that’s the level of precision and innovation we pursue.
If you could speak to Louis Cartier, the creator of the original Tank, what would you ask him?
MLC: I would ask if he’s proud of what we’ve done, and how we might be even bolder as he was in his time. I’m never fully satisfied with what I create; I’m always thinking about how to improve it. That relentless pursuit of perfection is, to me, the essence of Cartier.
This story was originally published in Tatler Vietnam, August 2025 issue
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