The very first 1:1 fake Cartier Tank, the ‘Normale’ was created in 1917 and made publicly available to buy in 1919.
The design has remained barely unchanged for more than 100 years — a perfect replica Cartier‘s case with two parallel brancards, Roman numerals, a railway track minute counter, sword-shaped blued-steel hands, and a winding-crown set with a cabochon blue sapphire.
Originally all of the luxury replica Cartier Tanks were made and sold in Paris, but just one was sold in London — and that is the one that I owned, complete with 1919/20 London hallmarks on the case and deployant buckle.
I found the Swiss movement fake Cartier UK in a sorry state in Portobello. The glass was broken and it wasn’t running and my watchmaker wasn’t available until later that day.
I asked the dealer if I could keep hold of it but he said no. He was about to leave, so I had to make a decision on the spot. I knew it was early and it just looked right, so I bought it.
I took it in to a specialist dealer and he gave me all the history on the aaa quality fake Cartier.
It remains one of my luckiest finds. It is such a good feeling when you look beyond an object that is completely broken and you end up discovering something really special.