Visual Description
The Ref. 8810 is an 18k yellow gold quartz Tank Louis, 23 × 30 mm and about 5 mm thick. The dial is white, with black Roman numerals, a chemin de fer minute track and the Cartier signature hidden in the VII. Blued steel sword hands sit under a sapphire crystal, and the crown is set with a sapphire cabochon.
Reference Significance
The 8810 is the solid gold quartz Tank Louis of the 1980s and 1990s. It shares the 23 × 30 mm case size of the hand-wound Ref. 78086; the 8810 has a quartz movement and a sapphire crystal where the 78086 is hand-wound with mineral glass. The later quartz Ref. 2441 is larger, 25.5 × 33.7 mm, and adds a date at 3 o'clock.
Historical Context
Catalogs date the 8810 from the 1980s into the 1990s: Antiquorum catalogs one as made in the 1980s, and Artcurial one circa 1990.
Reading the Case Back
Catalogs print the number on this watch's case back as one run of digits that begins 881052 and continues into the serial: Antiquorum's example reads 8810527144, Woolley & Wallis's 8810528222 and Freeman's 88105211307. Because it is printed without a break, houses split it in different places. Artcurial catalogs the reference as 8810 with the serial 5212182C, Freeman's and Gardiner Houlgate catalog it as 88105, and Bachmann & Scher lists it as 81052. Any of these numbers on a 23 × 30 mm 18k yellow gold quartz Tank Louis points to this reference.
What to Look For
Read the case back: the number begins 881052 and runs into the serial, as described above. On the dial, look for the Cartier signature hidden in the VII and for Roman numerals in proportion to the chemin de fer track; the crown should carry a sapphire cabochon.
Check the brancards for polishing that has rounded their sharp edges. Artcurial's example closed with a signed gold deployant clasp.
