Visual Description
The Ref. 96019 is the Tank Louis Cartier Extra Plate: an ultra-thin case of about 24 × 30 mm, 4.9 mm thick including the crystal, in 18k yellow or white gold. The white dial carries painted black Roman numerals and a railroad minute track, with blued steel sword hands and a blue cabochon crown. Dealers describe Paris-signed dials on some examples.
Reference Significance
The 96019 is the Extra Plate of the Tank Louis Cartier references on Archiva, and with the 78086 one of the two hand-wound Tank Louis references dated to the 1970s. Its movement is the ultra-thin hand-wound Frédéric Piguet Cal. 21, which Amsterdam Vintage Watches labels Cartier Cal. 96; the 78086 runs on the Cartier Cal. 78-1.
Historical Context
Dated examples run from the 1970s, as Sotheby's dates one circa 1975, into the 1980s. One dealer dates a white gold example to the 1990s, later than every other record.
Earlier Cartier Tank Extra Plates, cataloged without a reference number, used the Jaeger-LeCoultre P838; Sotheby's has offered one of about 1965.
What to Look For
The movement first: an ultra-thin hand-wound caliber, which six auction houses and dealers name as the Frédéric Piguet Cal. 21. Sotheby's cataloged one 96019 with a Jaeger-LeCoultre P838, the movement of earlier Extra Plates, so read that pairing with caution. A quartz movement in a 96019 case is not the original configuration.
Then the case: it should measure about 4.9 to 5 mm thick. If it is noticeably thicker, check the reference on the case back.
On the dial, the painted Roman numerals should be crisp, with no flaking or uneven printing that would suggest a refinish. Amsterdam Vintage Watches describes a mineral crystal on its example.
