Visual Description
The Ref. 590004 is the small Must de Cartier Vendôme: a 24 mm round case of silver under gold plating, with a case back held by two screws. The dials cataloged are cream, silvered, black or champagne, all with Roman numerals, and the cream and champagne examples cataloged have blued steel hands.
Fellows describes its black dials with lozenge hour markers and Roman numerals only at the quarters, a different layout from the Roman numerals and minute track of the cream and silvered dials.
Reference Significance
The 590004 is the 24 mm vermeil Vendôme of the Must de Cartier line. Leland Little and Fellows catalog the larger vermeil Vendôme as Ref. 590003, at 30 mm and 29.8 mm, Fellows with a signed caliber 690, while the 24 mm Vendôme in solid gold is the Ref. 881002.
Retail listings also show Trinity three-gold, plain black, white, lemon and two-tone dials, but none of the auction or dealer catalogs consulted documents them.
Historical Context
Noonans dates its example circa 1990 and Analog/Shift another to the 1980s, and the other catalogs consulted give no date.
Fellows catalogs the movement as a signed quartz caliber 90 on three examples sold in 2016 and 2017.
What to Look For
Read the case back: Fellows and Gorringe's examples carry the reference beside a six-digit serial, such as 036067 590004.
On a vermeil case, check the edges and lugs for gold worn through to the silver. Ask for a photograph of the quartz movement and compare it with the caliber 90 recorded at auction.
