Visual Description
The Ref. 2463 is the Crash's asymmetric, distorted case in 18k rose gold. Phillips catalogs it at 38 × 23 mm, and other houses within a millimeter of that; pink diamond-set examples are cataloged at 25 mm wide. The silvered dial carries black Roman numerals that distort with the case, with MADE IN FRANCE at 6 o'clock. The case back is secured by four screws, and the watch is worn on a crocodile or alligator strap with an 18k pink gold Cartier deployant clasp.
Reference Significance
The 2463 gives the Crash a standard Cartier reference number rather than an edition number. Case backs carry the reference together with a serial ending AF, and Phillips calls it the Made in France edition, after the dial marking. Versions with a pink diamond-set bezel are also documented.
Historical Context
The Crash was born at Cartier London in 1967, made again in London in the 1980s and issued in Paris as a series of 400 in 1991; the 2463 followed as a 21st-century pink gold version. Antiquorum writes that Cartier launched the reference in 2001. Catalogs date most examples to 2001 to 2003, with one circa 2000 and one circa 2004, and one example came with a Cartier guarantee dated 2001.
What to Look For
Read the case back: it should carry 2463 with a serial ending AF. Check the dial for MADE IN FRANCE at 6 o'clock, and ask for photographs of the movement. Phillips catalogs the hand-wound Cartier cal. 1978-2 with 17 jewels and Bonhams a 17-jewel Cal. 160, while Sotheby's describes a 17-jewel mechanical movement without naming it. The clasp should be an 18k pink gold Cartier deployant.
Case measurements vary by house, from 38 × 22 mm to 39 × 24 mm, so a millimeter either way is normal. Diamond-set examples in the catalogs we consulted carry pink diamonds on the bezel. A white gold Crash engraved 2462 belongs to a different reference.
