The word "iconic" might be the most overused adjective in watches. And following closely behind it in the hackneyed department is the story that begins something like, "Iconic is an overused word, but so-and-so's vaunted such-and-such is a true icon that stands up to naysayers and deserves the title." I've definitely written that before (sorry), but I'm going to spare you the tedium today. The Cartier Santos is one hell of a watch and its design integrity, build quality, and thoughtfulness speak for themselves. No "iconic" required.
When we first saw that Cartier would be relaunching the Santos collection at SIHH 2018, we'll admit we weren't out-of-our-minds excited. The Santos always seemed like a fine watch to us, but not a watch worth a raised pulse. However, every day is a school day, and sitting down to look at the new collection that first morning of the show, we realized that this go-around the Santos was something different. It is now something truly lust-worthy and we needed to spend some time with one of these watches ASAP. Luckily the kind people at Cartier North America decided to oblige our appeal and Managing Editor Stephen Pulvirent was able to wear a Santos around New York City for a week ahead of its launch in San Francisco earlier this month. Here are his thoughts.