In 2012 Cartier stunned us with a 3.5 minute tour de force that set a new gold standard for television commercials. Now, following that success, they’ve released “Cartier — Shape Your Time.” At only 1.5 minutes, it is less ambitious than its predecessor but no less beautiful.
Too bad one of our network affiliates felt it necessary to flash the word “Advertisement” several times in the upper left corner. What a shame. No one did that in 2012.
thanks for sharing this – I generally avoid ads if I can, but this one is a work of art.
Most commercials are inane and annoying at best. But you said it perfectly — this one is a work of art.
Nice piece. I just wish we could trust the Kimberley Process. Instead, my thinking is “go synthetic, or just write a check directly to Joseph Kony.”
I’ve no idea where or how Cartier obtains its diamonds, but one would hope they know their sources. And you could always choose a style with no diamonds. (Doesn’t everyone wear Cartier?? 😉 )
Beautiful! Some can just do it right. (More flashy ads…can the holidays be closing in?)
These ads certainly speak to the Cartier image, but I doubt any of their potential customers are sitting around watching network TV in the evenings.
Precision mechanics as art. Marvelous. I wonder if the mechanical watch will endure as a symbol, or if it will eventually go the way of the fountain pen?
I’m reminded by this of Dava Sobel’s excellent book, Longitude.
My trusty Seiko watch is mechanical, and I can’t imagine replacing it with anything digital. I’ve been looking at mechanical watches and displays for more than 60 years and nothing else seems “right.” Yet my son tells me that he’s an outlier in his generation because he still wears a watch at all — he says everyone relies on their cell phone. Go figure. I want the time available at a glance on my wrist, without fishing for a cell phone or having to push any buttons.
Just caught tail end of the commercial as we sat around my living room watching network tv.
Superb like the watches. Trusty 1957 Bulova self wind work watch told me it was 1627 CST, 1970 Lady Cartier confirmed, As did our bedroom electronic atomic clock and the PC time linked to the Naval Observatory Atomic Clock,which was less than 11 seconds ahead of ours. Mechanical s do run a tad slower over the days and years. Had lots of digital “toy watches” along the way, Part of the throw away society we live in. Don’t like your phone/watch after 2 years or the battery dies, get another with more bells and whistles and a new battery, it still tells time however telling time when the grid goes down, there may be a slight problem, unless you can read a sundial. When it is important to know the time, mechanical is the way to go. We are the last of the living dinosaurs.
Look forward to more beautifully crafted commercials from Cartier.
I have a tought time dealing with cheap products and planned obsolescence. I want and am willing to pay for quality. It’s just getting harder and harder to find it.