Visual Description
The 96062 is the Santos Dumont in its small size. The rectangular 18k yellow gold case is about 23 mm wide, and Watchalia gives 23 × 30 mm for its example. The white dial is signed Paris, and the hands are blued steel. Watchalia's example has a crown set with a blue sapphire cabochon and its original Cartier pin buckle on a leather strap.
The other examples we found are all yellow gold. Watchalia also sold one in two golds, a brushed yellow gold case with a polished white gold bezel, which it called Deux Ors.
Reference Significance
The 96062 is one of two small 18k yellow gold Santos Dumonts on the Cal. 21 that Archiva records, with the Ref. 96053. In dealers' descriptions the two read almost the same: about 23 mm wide, yellow gold, a white dial and the hand-wound Cal. 21, sold as Extra Plate. No source we consulted explains why Cartier used two numbers, so the case back is the way to tell them apart.
Its larger sibling is the Ref. 96054, the 27 × 36 mm ultra-thin gold Santos Dumont on the same movement.
Historical Context
Dealers date the 96062 to the 1980s and about 1990. Watchalia catalogs its example as 1980s, and Watches of Knightsbridge and Bachmann & Scher both date theirs to about 1990.
The Cal. 21 inside is the Frédéric Piguet ultra-thin hand-wound movement that Cartier also used in the Santos Dumont 96054 and the Tank Louis Cartier Extra Plate Ref. 96019. It lets a case this small stay thin without giving up a mechanical movement.
What to Look For
Read the case back for the reference: 96062, rather than 96053 or the larger 96054. Ask for movement photographs to confirm the hand-wound Cal. 21. On the dial, look for clean, even printing of the numerals and the Paris signature.
The thin gold case shows polishing quickly, softening the edges, so look for crisp lines and even brushing on the sides. Ask whether the buckle is 18k gold or gold plated: Watches of Knightsbridge sold its example on a gold-plated Cartier buckle. On a two-gold example, check that the white gold bezel and yellow gold case show the same wear.
