Cartier Santos Dumont or Tank Must

[strfreak]

Hi all,

I cannot decide between those two models. Did you guys go through the decision process. If yes, how did you decide. If the most important criteria is to be as close to the oriignal version as possible then what model out of those 2 should I choose from?

Dumont would be from F1 and Tank Must from AF

 

[fnfalguy]

I got both. Screw decisions.

 

[strfreak]

@fnfalguy Nice, congrats. What watch do you like better and which one do you think is closer to the original version? Have you every compared?

 

[fnfalguy]

Personally, I prefer the tank.

 

[fnfalguy]

@strfreak. Sorry for the glare, but here are a couple of photos. Older gen in the middle, straps from @ziczacleather .

 

[Hesekiel]

I am a Cartier fanboy, and own/owned multiple Cartier GENs and replicas in the past 33+ years (got my first one in 1981). First off, don't buy a replica if you want gold. If you want stainless steel, the Tank Must as well as the Santos Dumont are both excellent replicas, and both are powered by a quartz movement.

The Tank Must is pretty much a dress watch in the classical sense, although it looks absolutely bitchin' and a lot more casual with a Forstner SS bracelet.
https://forstnerbands.com/products/forstner-jb-astronaut-band?variant=30278488424503

The Santos Dumont is somewhat in between the "classic" Santos and the Tank Must. That means it has a more prominent wrist presence, and can be worn more casually. All this is a gross generalization, of course, as there are guys and gals who wear a 18K gold Cartier Tank Luis as a daily.

Price wise, they are also about equal. Hence, choose the one you like better; it won't be a bad choice no matter how you decide.

 

[strfreak]

I am a Cartier fanboy, and own/owned multiple Cartier GENs and replicas in the past 33+ years (got my first one in 1981). First off, don't buy a replica if you want gold. If you want stainless steel, the Tank Must as well as the Santos Dumont are both excellent replicas, and both are powered by a quartz movement.

The Tank Must is pretty much a dress watch in the classical sense, although it looks absolutely bitchin' and a lot more casual with a Forstner SS bracelet.
https://forstnerbands.com/products/forstner-jb-astronaut-band?variant=30278488424503

The Santos Dumont is somewhat in between the "classic" Santos and the Tank Must. That means it has a more prominent wrist presence, and can be worn more casually. All this is a gross generalization, of course, as there are guys and gals who wear a 18K gold Cartier Tank Luis as a daily.

Price wise, they are also about equal. Hence, choose the one you like better; it won't be a bad choice no matter how you decide.

Thank you for your comment.

As Cartier fanboy and having that much experience, can you tell the difference between a rep Dumont and a gen just by looking at it for 30 secs?

 

[Hesekiel]

In gold, absolutely. In stainless steel, no.

Not even if you are sitting at a table next to me at a cafe or in a restaurant.
A tell tale are the straps. The rep straps are of poor quality, as usual. And if an aftermarket strap is used, I try to spot if an insert was used. Then again, the small Dumont has a 15.5mm lug width, and the medium 17.8mm, so it's never going to be perfect fit unless an expensive Delugs strap is used. So the tell tale of a replica Dumont is either a poor quality replica strap, or a poor quality aftermarket strap. Invest in a custom-made, top-quality aligator strap and you're safe. (I buy all my Cartier straps from Vietnam.)

 

[strfreak]

Thanks. I have a couple of questions @Hesekiel


- Apart from the strap, if you have the gen next to the rep: Would you be able to tell which one is the gen? If yes, how? What is the difference?
- Where do you get your straps from in Vietnam? Can you share the source with me?
- Which factory produces the best Santos Dumont?
- Which rep is closer to the original (indistinguishable from the gen): Santos Dumont or Tank Must?

 

[Hesekiel]

Yes, if I hold both in my hands, I can tell which one is the GEN and which one is the rep, but not when looking at it at somebody else's wrist.
I now buy all of my straps via Etsy. I have a few great straps makers depending on what kind of strap I'm wanting to buy. However, non of those makes straps with the Cartier insert.
As far as I know, only F1 makes the Santos Dumont.
Both, the Tank Must and the Santos Dumont in stainless steel are equally well made. It really makes no sense to buy those in GEN. Again, you will need to buy GEN when you want gold, not for steel. The Cartier Santos with the bracelet is also a great rep, available from multiple factories. Steve did a killer comparison on those.

 

[strfreak]

What would be the difference between the GEN and the rep, so you know which one is the gen?

From my point of view, it doesn't make sense to buy the gen if the rep is 95-99% comparable. Is that the case?

 

[Hesekiel]

Quality, detail, dial.
Let' say visually it's about 90%, aside from the movement, of course.
Agreed, it makes no sense to spend 20 times the amount on the GEN on this one, unless money is no object, in which case you'd be buying solid 18K gold anyway.

 

[CutePinkKitty]

I am a Cartier fanboy, and own/owned multiple Cartier GENs and replicas in the past 33+ years (got my first one in 1981). First off, don't buy a replica if you want gold. If you want stainless steel, the Tank Must as well as the Santos Dumont are both excellent replicas, and both are powered by a quartz movement.

The Tank Must is pretty much a dress watch in the classical sense, although it looks absolutely bitchin' and a lot more casual with a Forstner SS bracelet.
https://forstnerbands.com/products/forstner-jb-astronaut-band?variant=30278488424503

The Santos Dumont is somewhat in between the "classic" Santos and the Tank Must. That means it has a more prominent wrist presence, and can be worn more casually. All this is a gross generalization, of course, as there are guys and gals who wear a 18K gold Cartier Tank Luis as a daily.

Price wise, they are also about equal. Hence, choose the one you like better; it won't be a bad choice no matter how you decide.

I'm thinking of getting the WHTA0022

It looks really nice and it's big.

have you seen this?