Headline: A Jewel of Luxury Cartier has come a long

Headline: A Jewel of Luxury Cartier has come a long way since its founder Louis-Francois Cartier took the reins of his apprenticeship master’s jewellery workshop in 1847. Since then, it became the undisputed jewellery house for nobles and aristocrats from all around the world, designing and purveying jewels for royalty such as King Carlos I of Portugal, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and King Edward VII of England. Along the way, Cartier’s exclusive range of jewellery gradually grew to include jeweled wristwatches, fragrances and exquisitely crafted eyewear. As one of the few Maisons with its own Manufacture, Cartier takes great pride in their superior quality and craftsmanship in eyewear. The eyewear created in the 19th century were distinct, bespoke pieces, such as lorgnettes or opera glasses, which were made as gifts for nobles. After the launch of its original Must and Vendome models, Cartier Eyewear Manufacture shifted first to Joinville-le-Pont, and then later to Sucy-en-Brie, where it established itself in a state-of-the-art building dedicated to the creation, innovation and production of eyewear pieces. Cartier’s strategy of categorizing all the stages of eyewear design and manufacturing enables the Manufacture to effectively maximize every aspect of production. From sunglasses and glasses to frames and jewellery models, all share the same aesthetic Cartier trademarks, and all are manufactured in this eyewear factory, which ensures the production of superior classics set apart by carefully selected materials, attention to detail and the unsurpassed skills of the Manufacture’s craftsmen to keep to notoriously high standards. Long-established techniques such as assembling, polishing, crimping, diamond polishing and lacquering are used to refine the materials that Cartier brought back into vogue, such as acetate and solid gold. The finished product was a medley of silhouettes, flawless finishes, and a wide assortment of materials, from wood and horn to solid gold. Much like their jewellery, the design process for the glasses begins with a gouache drawing from Cartier’s design studio, which preludes a wax sculpture followed by the construction of a resin model or a 3D design, necessary for the successful construction of the frame. Then a second model is sculpted using acetate and metal, which allows changes to be made to adjust to the morphological and technical constraints before it goes on to production. Polishing is a vital process in jewellery-making as it is responsible for creating the object’s shine. While most of the polishing will take place in barrels full of crushed walnut shells or wood with polishing paste, frames require manual polishing with polishing pads. This is a highly technical procedure and polishers may require years of experience and control to avoid misshapen surfaces. Next come the assembly, fittings and final adjustments. All carried out by hand, the parts are assembled and put together before the symmetry and conformity of each frame is checked and manually adjusted for optimum balance and comfort. The final finished product will usually undergo 180 actions. The last process,

where Cartier glasses are inspected at every stage of their manufacture right up to the final control is a further 25 tests.