Visual Description
The 2515 is the Baignoire drawn out to an elongated oval in 18k pink gold, 47 mm long, 21 to 21.5 mm wide and about 7.4 mm thick, with a sapphire cabochon in the crown. The dial is silvered and guilloché, printed with black Roman numerals, under blued steel hands.
Examples are worn on leather, alligator or crocodile straps with a pink gold Cartier buckle or deployant clasp, and some cases are set with diamonds on the bezel and case band.
Reference Significance
The 2515 and the white gold Ref. 2514 are the same Allongée in two metals: both 47 mm long, hand-wound on the Cartier Cal. 060 MC, and numbered in one series of case numbers ending AF.
Both are smaller and later than the Baignoire Allongée retailed by Cartier London from the late 1960s and its 1991 reissue, the Ref. W1507451, which measure about 23–24 × 52–54 mm. None of the auction or dealer records consulted calls the 2515 a Collection Privée watch.
Historical Context
Dated examples run from about 2000, the date Sotheby's gives a diamond-set example, to about 2010.
Phillips sold one, in yellow gold, with a Cartier certificate dated 3 August 2002. No source consulted gives a production figure.
What to Look For
Read the case first: it should be 18k pink gold and numbered 2515 with a six-digit case number ending AF. A white gold case is the 2514. The movement should be the hand-wound Cal. 060 MC; one Christie's catalog describes a Cal. 8970 MC in a 2515, so ask to see the movement and how it is signed.
Diamond-set bezels and case bands are documented on pink gold examples, and Phillips has sold one yellow gold 2515 set with diamonds. The long case softens under heavy polishing, so look for crisp edges at the ends of the oval.
