Visual Description
The Ref. 166921 is the small Panthère in stainless steel and 18k yellow gold. The cushion-shaped steel case has a screwed gold bezel, a crown set with a cabochon and a screwed case back, and measures 22 mm across; Aguttes gives 22 × 30 mm. It runs into a steel and gold bracelet that closes with a signed double folding clasp.
The dial is cream, silver or white, with Roman numerals and a railroad minute track, read by blued steel hands under a sapphire crystal.
Reference Significance
The 166921 is the small steel and gold Panthère of the 1980s and early 1990s. Its size, metals and movement match the Ref. 1120, which is dated from about 1990 to 1998, so the number on the case tells an owner which page is theirs. The Ref. 1320 is the same small size in stainless steel alone.
Houses print the number in two ways. Dorotheum gives the reference as 166921 and the case number as 66921041840, the serial running straight on from 66921, and some listings give 66921 as the reference.
Historical Context
Cartier introduced the Panthère in 1983, and the 166921 is documented from the following year. Bachmann & Scher dates examples to 1984, with German warranty papers of that year, and to 1993, and Aguttes catalogs a third as circa 1990.
What to Look For
Case number: It should begin 166921 or 66921 and run into a serial, as in 66921041840 or 166921 056119. A case back reading 1120 points to the Ref. 1120.
Bracelet and clasp: The steel and gold bracelet should have all its links and a signed double folding clasp that closes firmly.
Dial and crown: The Roman numerals and the minute track should be crisp, the hands blued steel and the cabochon in the crown intact.
Movement: It should be quartz and running. Fellows catalogs it as the Cal. 157.
