1912 saw the birth of an oval-shaped watch designed by Cartier — a first of its kind during that era. Called the Baignoire (translation: “bathtub”), this uniquely-shaped timepiece was worn by fashionable aristocratic women in the know, who sought timeless elegance, instead of going after the latest trends. In the late 1950s, Cartier again reworked and perfected this oval timepiece, giving a slightly curved silhouette, with a Roman or Arabic numeral-stamped dial, bordered by gold gadroons, which remains an icon until this very day.

For SIHH 2019, the Maison reintroduced the Baignoire, and the current model retains the very same contours of the original model, with minor adjustments, including a narrower bracelet, and redesigned Roman numerals on a slivered sand-blasted background. On the white gold version, the staggered diamond setting goes all the way around the width of the gadroons right to the case back. For ladies who prefer the vintage style watch that is very close to the 1958 cult model, then this is for you.

Personally, I prefer the Baignoire Alongée, an elongated version of the original created in London’s Swinging Sixties. here, you’d find a stretched out version of its predecessor, with the width of the watch spanning across and fully covering the woman’s wrist. The SIHH 2019 editions of the Baignoire Alongée comes in 2 sizes (medium and extra large), in 5 different styles: pink gold dial set with brilliant-cut diamonds, white gold case, dial, and bracelet fully covered in diamonds, a white gold case set with brilliant-cut diamonds, pink gold case set with brilliant cut diamonds, or pink gold. I was glad to have had the opportunity to view the pieces up close at the boutique when they were flown into Malaysia for just 3 days, in the boutique, and got to try each and every one of them, which you might already have seen on Insta Stories @bagaddictsanon, and they were every bit as glamorous as you see here (Thanks Cartier Malaysia for the opportunity!). I have to say, though, that for those of you with smaller wrists (like my mum), the Baignoire Alongée, as pretty as they are, may not be able to fit your wrists, because they’d stick out on both ends over the width of narrower wrists. For me on the other hand, it fit to the contours of my wrist, like a glove. This was probably my absolute favourite of all Cartier’s SIHH 2019 pieces.

Images courtesy of Cartier