Visual Description
The Paris 1991 Crash has the distorted, asymmetric case of the London original in 18k yellow gold, slightly smaller. Phillips and Cambi catalog it at 38 × 23 mm, while Sotheby's catalogs give 38 to 39 mm by about 22 mm. The dial, which catalogs call silvered or white, carries black Roman numerals that distort with the case and the secret signature at VII, and is signed Paris at 6 o'clock. The hands are blued steel and the crown is set with a sapphire cabochon.
The case back is secured by four screws and carries the edition number and year, such as 113-91, beside a Cartier serial and the Paris signature, which places each piece within the 400.
Reference Significance
The 1991 edition is the Crash as Cartier Paris issued it, 24 years after Cartier London launched the design. Sotheby's describes it as the Crash's reintroduction, and Phillips as the introduction of the Crash into the Cartier catalog as a production piece. It is a numbered edition rather than a catalog reference: 400 pieces, each numbered on the case back.
All 400 were made in yellow gold. A very small platinum run followed around 1992 to 1993: Phillips catalogs for the platinum watches themselves say possibly as few as 8 and no more than a handful at auction, Hairspring estimates 8 and Phillips Perpetual says 10, while two Phillips essays on gold lots say 50. No platinum example we found carries an edition number. Antiquorum wrote in 1999 that very few of the gold watches were originally made with a bezel paved with diamonds.
Historical Context
Cartier London launched the Crash in 1967 and made it again in the late 1980s. In 1991 Cartier Paris issued its own version as an edition of 400 in yellow gold, signed Paris on the dial and case back. Every numbered example is dated 1991, while the papers that came with them run from a certificate dated 24 December 1991 to an international guarantee of June 1993.
It should not be confused with the rose gold Ref. 2463 of the early 2000s, which carries its reference and a serial on the case back and MADE IN FRANCE on the dial, or with white gold Crashes such as the sapphire-set Ref. 2774 that Sotheby's describes as possibly unique.
What to Look For
Start with the case back. Every numbered example carries its edition number in the NNN-91 form beside a Cartier serial in the A108 to A109 range, signed Paris. The engraving should be crisp and evenly spaced; a missing, poorly cut or added number deserves questions.
The dial should be signed Paris at 6 o'clock, with the secret signature at VII and numerals that follow the case contours. The case should be 18k yellow gold; a Paris 1991 Crash offered in white or rose gold is not the 1991 edition. Check the case for polishing: Phillips describes its best-kept examples as unpolished, with uninterrupted curves.
Ask for photographs of the movement to confirm the 17-jewel Cartier manual caliber, and for the certificate, which records the edition number. Most clasps are 18k yellow gold Cartier deployants, though Sotheby's, Antiquorum and Phillips have each sold one with a pink gold clasp.
