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Cartier Santos de Cartier Galbée (steel and gold)

Reference 2961. A sheet to take with you: the numbers to check the watch against, what to look at, and what to ask. It does not authenticate anything and it does not tell you whether to buy.

Check the numbers

Measure or ask. A watch that does not match these is not necessarily wrong, but it is a question worth the answer.

Anything above marked not recorded is a gap in this catalog, not a property of the watch. Do not read a blank as a zero.

Before anything else

The main question on a two-tone Santos is whether the gold is solid or plated, and whether the bracelet belongs to the watch. Both are checkable without opening it.

What to look at

1. case The eight exposed bezel screws
   Correct Eight screws set into the gold bezel, evenly seated, with gold tone matching the bracelet centre links
   Red flag Wear through to a base metal at the screw heads or bezel edges, or a colour mismatch against the bracelet
2. movement Caliber 077
   Correct A 25-jewel Cartier cal. 077 automatic
   Red flag A manual-wind or quartz movement in a watch sold as the automatic reference 2961
3. dial Roman numerals and the concealed signature
   Correct Evenly printed Roman numerals with the Cartier signature worked into one of them, and blued sword hands
   Red flag Thickened or uneven numerals, a missing concealed signature, or hands in a black finish rather than blued steel
4. caseback Case number and reference
   Correct A case number and a 2961 reference on the caseback, legible and evenly stamped
   Red flag A different reference, or stamping whose depth and spacing vary across the characters
5. bracelet Two-tone integrated bracelet
   Correct Convex two-tone links integrated into the case with no gap at the join, and a signed deployant clasp
   Red flag Flat links from the earlier case generation, a gap at the case join, or an unsigned clasp
6. crystal Sapphire crystal and cabochon crown
   Correct A sapphire crystal and a faceted synthetic spinel cabochon set in the crown
   Red flag A missing or loose cabochon, or a crown from a different Cartier line

Known issues on this reference

• Cartier made both solid gold and gold-plated Santos variants, and plated parts are sometimes mixed into a watch sold as solid gold. Wear at the bezel screw heads and bracelet link edges shows this first.
• Bracelets are swapped between Santos generations. The Galbée bracelet has convex links and does not interchange cleanly with the earlier flat-link Carrée bracelet.
• Dials are refinished, and reprinted Cartier text and the concealed signature in the numerals are the usual places to look.

Parts that are commonly replaced

• Crown cabochons are lost and replaced routinely and carry little originality penalty.
• Deployant clasps wear and are frequently replaced; a signed Cartier clasp is worth confirming.

Ask the seller, whatever the watch

• When was it last serviced, by whom, and is there paperwork?
• Has the case ever been polished?
• Which parts are not original to it?
• Do you have the box, papers and the original bracelet or strap?
• Why are you selling it?
• Can I see it in daylight, and can I take a photo of the caseback?

What this sheet is standing on

The specifications above are sourced to phillips.com, sothebys.com. What else the catalog does not know.

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