Visual Description
The Ref. 2378 is the Pasha in stainless steel, 38 mm across and 44 mm from lug to lug. The case has a revolving graduated bezel, a sapphire-set winding crown with a protection cap, sapphire crystals and a transparent case back held by screws.
The dial is silver guilloché with painted Arabic numerals at the quarters, tritium-coated round and triangular indexes and a date between 4 and 5 o'clock. The hands are blued steel lozenges, also tritium-coated. The bracelet is polished and brushed Cartier steel with a deployant clasp.
Reference Significance
The 2378 is the steel Pasha without a grille. The Ref. 2379 is the Pasha Grille: Antiquorum catalogs it in the same 38 mm steel case on the same Cal. 191, with a removable protective grille over the crystal.
The 38 mm gold Pashas of the 1980s use a different movement. Catalogs for the Ref. 820903 and the 820901 give a cal. 2824-2.
Historical Context
Antiquorum dates both of the 2378s it has cataloged, offered in 2004 and 2006, to the 1990s. The later sales consulted give no date, and production dates after the 1990s appear only in marketplace listings, so where the range ends is still open.
Every catalog consulted gives the Cartier Cal. 191, and Antiquorum describes it with 27 jewels, rhodium plating and oeil-de-perdrix decoration.
What to Look For
Look through the transparent case back for the Cal. 191. Check the sapphire in the crown and the protection cap over it, and the action of the graduated bezel.
A gold bezel is not necessarily a replacement: Antiquorum and Wright both catalog a steel and gold Pasha as Ref. 2378. The bracelet on the cataloged steel examples is polished and brushed Cartier steel with a deployant clasp.
