Visual Description
The Ref. 881002 is a 24 mm Vendôme in 18k yellow gold, 5 mm thick. Antiquorum describes a two-body polished case with a rounded bezel, Vendôme lugs with screwed bars, a crown set with a cabochon sapphire and a back secured by two screws.
The dial is painted white with radial Roman numerals, an outer minute track and the secret signature at 7, under blued steel epee hands. Dial, case and movement are signed.
Reference Significance
The 881002 is the 24 mm Vendôme in solid gold with a quartz movement. The Ref. 590004 is the same size in vermeil, sold as a Must de Cartier, and the Ref. 78090 is the 33 mm gold Vendôme with a hand-wound movement.
Antiquorum has also cataloged a Ref. 881001 as a 30 mm 18k yellow gold quartz Vendôme made in the 1990s; no source found describes the two numbers as a pair.
Historical Context
Antiquorum catalogs its example, offered in Geneva in May 2010 with case number 12417, as made in the 1990s. No auction or dealer catalog found gives a production range.
Sotheby's offered a 24 mm 18k yellow gold quartz Vendôme of circa 1990 in London in 2017 that prints 881002 as the case number and 8887 as the reference, so read the case back of any watch offered under either number.
What to Look For
Ask for photographs of the case back and the movement. Antiquorum's catalog describes the movement only as quartz, with dial, case and movement signed.
Check for the secret signature at 7 and the cabochon sapphire in the crown, and measure the case: the 881002 is 24 mm, where Antiquorum's 881001 measured 30 mm.
