jewellery manufacturing watchmaking retailing founded paris france 1847 ; 169 years ago 1847 founder louis fran ois cartier headquarters paris france area served worldwide key people cyrille vigneron ceo revenue 6.1 billion 2016 1 parent richemont website cartier.com soci t cartier k rti.e ; french ka tje is a french luxury goods conglomerate company . the company designs manufactures distributes and sells jewellery and watches . founded in paris france in 1847 by louis fran ois cartier the company remained under family control until 1964 . the company maintains its headquarters in paris and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the compagnie financi re richemont sa . cartier is well known for its jewellery and wrist watches including the bestiary best illustrated by the panth re brooch of the 1940s created for wallis simpson the diamond necklace created for bhupinder singh the maharaja of patiala and the santos wristwatch of 1904 . citation needed cartier has a long history of sales to royalty and celebrities . 2 for example kate middleton the duchess of cambridge has been seen wearing the cartier ballon bleu timepiece . 3 king edward vii of england referred to cartier as the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers . 4 for his coronation in 1902 edward vii ordered 27 tiaras and issued a royal warrant to cartier in 1904 . 5 6 similar warrants soon followed from the courts of spain portugal russia siam greece serbia belgium romania egypt albania monaco and the house of orleans . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 family ownership 1.2 post family ownership 2 retail stores 3 products 3.1 jewellery 3.1.1 by collections 3.1.2 categories 3.2 watches 3.2.1 men s watches 3.2.2 women s watches 3.3 fashion accessories 3.3.1 leather goods 3.3.2 eyewear 3.3.3 fine objects 3.4 perfumes 4 timeline 5 website blocking 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit family ownership edit louis fran ois cartier founded cartier in paris in 1847 when he took over the workshop of his master . 8 in 1874 louis fran ois son alfred cartier took over the company but it was alfred s sons louis pierre and jacques who were responsible for establishing the brand name worldwide . cartier santos steel gold from 1988 in 1904 the brazilian pioneer aviator alberto santos dumont complained to his friend louis cartier of the unreliability and impracticality of using pocket watches while flying . cartier designed a flat wristwatch with a distinctive square bezel . this watch was liked by not only santos dumont but also many other customers . thus the santos was born . this was cartier s first men s wristwatch . 9 mackay emerald and diamond necklace 168 carats muzo colombia 1931 . louis retained responsibility for the paris branch moving to the rue de la paix in 1899 . he was responsible for some of the company s most celebrated designs like the mystery clocks 10 a type of clock with a transparent dial and so named because its mechanism is hidden 11 fashionable wristwatches and exotic orientalist art deco designs including the colorful tutti frutti jewels . in 1907 cartier signed a contract with edmond jaeger who agreed to exclusively supply the movements for cartier watches . by this time cartier had branches in london new york and st. petersburg and was quickly becoming one of the most successful watch companies in the world . the baignoire and tortue models both of which are still in production today were introduced in 1912 followed by the tank model in 1917 . this designed by louis cartier was inspired from the newly introduced tanks on the western front . this line too has survived with over thirty varieties made since . in the early 1920s cartier formed a joint company with edward jaeger of jaeger lecoultre to produce movements solely for cartier . thus was the european watch and clock company born although cartier continued to use movements from other makers . cartier watches can be found with movements from vacheron constantin audemars piguet movado and lecoultre . it was also during this period that cartier began adding its own reference numbers to the watches it sold usually by stamping a four digit code on the underside of a lug . jacques took charge of the london operation and eventually moved to the current address at new bond street . pierre cartier established the new york city branch in 1909 moving in 1917 to 653 fifth avenue citation needed the neo renaissance mansion of morton freeman plant son of railroad tycoon henry b. plant and designed by architect c.p.h. gilbert . cartier acquired the mansion from the plants in exchange for 100 in cash and a double stranded natural pearl necklace valued at the time at 1 million . 12 among the cartier team was charles jacqueau who joined louis cartier in 1909 for the rest of his life and jeanne toussaint who was director of fine jewellery from 1933 . after the death of pierre in 1964 jean jacques cartier jacques s son claude cartier louis s son and marionne claudelle pierre s daughter who respectively headed the cartier affiliates in london new york and paris sold the businesses . post family ownership edit bismarck sapphire necklace 1935 now at national museum of natural history us . in 1972 a group of investors led by joseph kanoui bought cartier paris . president robert hocq who created the phrase les must de cartier a staff member is said to have said cartier it s a must 8 meaning something one simply must have with alain dominique perrin general director began introducing new products . in 1974 and 1976 respectively the group repurchased cartier london and cartier new york . in 1979 the cartier interests were combined cartier monde uniting and controlling cartier paris london and new york . cartier merged in 1981 with les must de cartier and perrin was appointed chairman of cartier saa and cartier international . the next year micheline kanoui assumed responsibility for jewellery design and launched her first collection nouvelle joaillerie . in 1984 perrin founded the fondation cartier pour l art contemporain the cartier foundation of contemporary art to bring cartier into the twenty first century by forming an association with living artists . in 1986 the french ministry for culture appointed perrin head of the mission sur le mecenat d entreprise a commission to study business patronage of the arts . two years later cartier acquired a majority holding in piaget and baume & mercier . in 1989 1990 the musee du petit palais staged the first major exhibition of the cartier collection l art de cartier . citation needed perrin founded an international committee in 1991 comite international de la haute horlogerie to organise its first salon held on 15 april 1991 . this has become an annual meeting place in geneva for professionals . the next year the second great exhibition of l art de cartier was held at the hermitage museum in st petersburg . in 1993 the vendome luxury group was formed as an umbrella company to combine cartier alfred dunhill montblanc piaget baume & mercier karl lagerfeld chlo sulka hackett seeger . 13 in 1994 the cartier foundation moved to the rive gauche and opened a headquarters in a building designed for it by jean nouvel . following the accidental death of robert hocq in december of that year his sister brigitte hocq became chairman . joseph kanoui became vice president of cartier monde . the next year a major exhibition of the cartier antique collection was held in asia . in 1996 the lausanne hermitage foundation in switzerland hosted the exhibition splendours of the jewellery presenting a hundred and fifty years of products by cartier . as of 2012 cartier is owned through richemont by the south african rupert family and 24 year old who is the granddaughter of pierre cartier elle pagels . retail stores edit champs lys es store in paris cartier is in the former morton f. plant house on fifth avenue in new york cartier in kuala lumpur city centre cartier on mexico city s avenida presidente masaryk cartier operates more than 200 stores in 125 countries with three temples historical maison world wide paris 13 rue de la paix london 175 177 new bond street new york 653 fifth avenue in september 2008 cartier opened its first flagship store in seoul south korea named cartier maison located in cheongdam dong gangnam gu with its facade inspired by korean bojagi wrapping cloth . helmed by managing director philippe galtie he said at the time of opening that it was the seventh largest in the world . 14 15 in 2015 cartier opened a shop in the newly developed river oaks district 16 in houston . 17 products edit jewellery edit by collections edit amulette de cartier love panth re de cartier paris nouvelle vague trinity de cartier juste un clou diamants legers de cartier diamond collection trinity ruban solitaire cartier destin e solitaire ballerine solitaire caresse d orchid es par cart c de cartier entrelaces cartier fauna and flora evasions joailli res links and chains hearts and symbols pearl jewellery colourful jewellery agrafe categories edit rings bracelets necklaces earrings broches charms watches edit cartier panthere lady s 2 tone watch . cartier has developed many different watches . the classic collections are men s watches edit ballon bleu de cartier tank calibre de cartier cl de cartier drive de cartier santos de cartier rotonde de cartier ronde croisiere de cartier ronde louis cartier ronde solo de cartier tortue pasha de cartier women s watches edit tank ballon bleu de cartier cl de cartier baignoire delices de cartier pasha de cartier santos de cartier creative jeweled watches crash tortue ronde louis cartier ronde solo de cartier fashion accessories edit leather goods edit hand bags women s small leather goods men s small leather goods women s belts men s belts agenda refills eyewear edit precious eyewear women s sunglasses men s sunglasses women s opticals men s opticals fine objects edit writing instruments cufflinks scarves lighters key rings money clips home collection stationery perfumes edit must de cartier dragon pasha baiser vol panth re de cartier d claration timeline edit this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains embedded lists that may be better presented using prose . you can help by converting the list or lists to prose if appropriate . editing help is available . december 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message 1847 louis fran ois cartier inherited the jewellery workshop at 29 rue montorgueil in paris from his master adolphe picard founding the house of cartier . citation needed 1856 princess mathilde niece of napoleon i and cousin to emperor napoleon iii made her first purchase from cartier . citation needed 1859 cartier moved the workshop to 9 boulevard des italiens . empress eug nie wife of napoleon iii and regent of france became a cartier client . citation needed 1888 creation of the first ladies jewellery bracelet watch . citation needed 1899 cartier moved into the its present day headquarters at 13 rue de la paix . citation needed 1900 introduction of various styles of neoclassical jewellery mounted in platinum which became exceptionally popular amongst aristocrats . citation needed 1902 cartier opened a new shop at 4 new burlington street in london on the same day as the coronation of king edward vii . citation needed 1904 cartier received its first appointment as official purveyor to king edward vii of the united kingdom . his consort queen alexandra bought a necklace designed with indian influence . later that year cartier received another appointment as the purveyor for king