The collector who once made Cartier gift him a watch – just because he could
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The collector who once made Cartier gift him a lookout man – just because he could
Harry Fane is known as the human who knows more about Cartier's Tank watches than Cartier does. And he's curated a collection of rare vintage treasures in Singapore.
A collection of 31 rare Cartier timepieces has been curated at Dover Street Market. (Photo: Aik Chen)
15 May 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 10 Jul 2022 03:40PM)
There are 31 rare watches on brandish at Dover Street Market place Singapore. To the uninitiated, they'd simply await, well, sometime. Those in the know volition recognise many of these every bit precious vintage Cartier Tank watches, first created in 1917 and inspired by the Renault FT-17 tank used in World War I.
For Harry Fane, these are historical treasures that he has dedicated much of his life to discovering, collecting and sharing. Fane can tell yous why the lugs curve on one model but lie direct on some other, or why references without a minute rails are highly sought later on. And he will practise it all with the grace of the English gentry, and the informed passion of someone who has built a career on finding beautiful things.
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The path that led him to condign a leading authorisation on Cartier'due south Tank watches wasn't exactly orthodox. The son of a former chairman at Sotheby'southward, Fane spent two years at the sale house in the early 1970s before deciding to go into business with his close friend Marking Shand – the late conservationist, travel writer and brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Because the market then was saturated with fine art dealers, they decided to specialise in objets d'art.
"When I used to go looking for vintage silverware to sell, I would occasionally come beyond a cute Cartier matter, similar a clock, a pair of cufflinks, a watch or cigarette case. I started to buy this stuff fifty-fifty though in that location was no interest in them. And in the late 1970s, I quite bravely dumped all the silvery candlesticks so I could concentrate on Cartier objets d'art," he told CNA Luxury.
"My favourite watch will change if an older, more beautiful model comes along. I'yard a scrap promiscuous in my love affairs with watches."
Fane would become intimately familiar with Cartier'south nigh exquisite jewels and objects, simply it is the Tank that enamoured him most.
"Louis Cartier was wonderfully shallow. He wasn't interested in what was going on within a watch, then he simply got Edmund Jaeger [of Jaeger-LeCoultre] to create a movement sparse enough to fit into his design," said Fane. "There'due south something unbelievably simple well-nigh the Tank just Cartier idea very carefully well-nigh its design."
That love translated into years of accumulating cognition of the Tank's history. "I started to research where and how the movements and cases were fabricated. At present one of the books Cartier published has an inscription that reads: 'To Harry Fane, who knows more almost Cartier than Cartier.'"
Fane personally collects Tank watches fabricated merely before the 1960s, and has developed a reputation for going to great lengths to acquire pieces that take hold of his fancy.
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"I was just in Miami for a jewellery fair and there was a big Rolex dealer who was showing me a Cartier spotter. I knew it was worth most United states$10,000 (South$13,690), or U.s.a.$eleven,000 on a very sunny twenty-four hours – but he asked for US$21,000. I asked him if he was crazy but he said, 'No, you're crazy because you lot're going to buy information technology.' The swine!" said Fane, laughing.
Unfortunately for his wallet, the dealer was correct.
Difficult as some of these models are to come by, Fane rarely has an event letting them go. "Really, I'm a trader at heart. My favourite lookout man volition alter if an older, more beautiful model comes along. I'chiliad a bit promiscuous in my love affairs with watches," he quipped.
"These archetype, traditional watches designed 100 years ago aren't clashing with these crazy, cut-border fashions. And I recall that'due south kind of amazing."
At whatever i time, his personal drove will consist of nigh 12 watches that are not for sale – just even that's not gear up in stone. "If you lot asked me to show y'all everything I've got and offered me US$5 one thousand thousand for them, y'all can have them in 3 seconds. I have very little sentimentality," he declared.
The just exception appears to be the picket he wore to our interview: A yellow golden Tank Normale from 1924. "It'south almost 100 years old. I wonder who information technology's had dinner with. Whose wrist was it taken off of? Who has it been given to? I've been remarkably monogamous with this scout."
Even the very commencement Tank he ever owned did not escape Fane'south pragmatism. He no longer has the modern Tank Americaine he demanded as a gift from Cartier post-obit a favour he granted the maison.
"They were pretty rude to me, so I told them that on top of paying me they were going to give me a present. After a terrible uproar in French – which they didn't know I could sympathise – they said I could get and choose some merchandise," said Fane.
So he marched into Cartier's Paris boutique, asked to come across its most expensive sentinel, a "horrible diamond-encrusted ane with buttons and sapphires everywhere", and said he would take that one.
"They went bananas. I was just joking, and then I chose the Americaine."
Fane's candid disdain for the more ostentatious stems from a deep reverence for the classics, and he doesn't mince his words, even with Johann Rupert, chairman of Cartier'south parent visitor Richemont, who Fane describes as "a remarkable human".
In fact, he believes information technology is because of Rupert'south leadership and understanding of Cartier's heritage that the brand remains relevant today. "It'due south the reason your eye still races when your beau comes home with a Cartier purse. This is rare because a lot of these old brands have become so diluted over the years."
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This lasting legacy, he said, tin can be seen in how his curated Cartier pieces are on brandish alongside the modern clothes of the Dover Street Market boutique.
"In theory, these watches should be for people like me wearing pinstripe suits and a necktie," he said. "But these classic, traditional watches designed 100 years ago aren't clashing with these crazy, cutting-edge fashions. And I call back that'due south kind of amazing."
Harry Fane's curated drove of vintage Cartier timepieces is available at Dover Street Marketplace Singapore until the end of May 2019.
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/people/vintage-cartier-tank-watches-in-singapore-dover-street-market-254586
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