Five iterations. Rarer than diamonds. A Cartier no money can buy, perhaps not even pay to see. That is the Cartier Cheich. The Crash, Tank, and Panthère do not hold a candle to it. The Cartier Cheich is not exceptional merely for being pricey; the world has enough billionaires who will gladly spend a fortune just for the thrill of a challenge. It is rare because the true currency here is endurance, sheer human grit, and determination. The Cheich could only ever be found on the wrist of the individual who managed to conquer one of the world’s most punishing courses, the legendary Paris-Dakar Rally.
The brutal 10,000 km desert endurance race was founded by Thierry Sabine, who, alongside Cartier president Alain-Dominique Perrin, created the Cartier Challenge. Winning the Paris-Dakar once was not enough to secure the prize. The ultimate hurdle was to win the same category in two consecutive years, whether by motorcycle, automobile, or truck, for Cartier to award a watch that doubled as the trophy itself. After imposing such a formidable task, Cartier did not simply hand out an existing Tank or Santos. To honor the effort, the maison engineered an entirely new case modelled after the Paris-Dakar emblem, mirroring the wrapped headcloth of the Tuareg people of the Sahara. Called a cheich in French, it introduced the world to a mythical design.
The first two iterations were made for a man and a woman, with the women’s version made smaller and set with diamonds. The one and only race winner to actually take home the Cartier Cheich was Belgian racing legend Gaston Rahier, according to Sotheby’s. His 18k gold Cheich used a manually wound FE 664 movement and sold at auction in 2022 for around $1.1 million.
The fifth version offered by Sotheby’s at auction this month was not a rally-awarded timepiece, but a fascinating exception. Around 2010, the luxury watchmaker made a bespoke piece for renowned collector Giorgio Seragnoli. This fifth timepiece is rare not for sharing the dust of the desert, but for being the only custom-commissioned Cheich ever produced outside of the original race trophies. Unlike Rahier’s watch, which featured tri-color gold, this piece is an 18-karat white gold version that commanded a cool $3.4 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction, becoming the most expensive Cartier wristwatch ever sold at auction.
It will certainly make watch collectors grin that this record-breaking masterpiece, featuring a white dial, brown Cartier leather strap, and a case marked “No. 1” conceals a simple quartz movement inside. In a world of horology where luxury watchmakers hustle day and night to engineer the most mind-boggling complications, a Cartier watch takes the cake for sheer heritage, design, and provenance over mechanical brilliance. One cannot help but realise that destiny has a curious way of evening the ledger. Though this piece was originally forged for Seragnoli, bankruptcy never allowed the collector to collect. Fifteen years later, it finally emerged to find its true destiny. Evidently, what is meant for you will always find its way home, with a record, no less!
