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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFor Time+Tide Watches contributor Luke Benedictus, the Cartier Tank’s projecting crown is the detail that spoils the watch: its blue cabochon makes him think of both female anatomy and a police siren. Those are his personal, comic associations—not an objective flaw or evidence of Cartier’s design intent.
What detail does Benedictus object to?
It is the Tank’s crown, especially the blue cabochon set into its tip. In an opinion article published on 12 April 2020, Benedictus describes the feature as “truly strange and unnerving” and sums up his reaction plainly: “I can’t stand the crown.” Read Benedictus’s article at Time+Tide Watches.
His objection is not that the crown fails mechanically or makes the watch impractical. He is reacting to how its shape and color look to him. He says the conical form evokes female anatomy, while the blue detail calls a police siren to mind. His headline’s question about whether police sirens secretly inspired Cartier’s cabochon crown is rhetorical; the article offers no evidence that they did.
Why might the crown look out of place?
Benedictus recognizes a design contrast that could also explain why the crown is there. He reads the Tank’s angular case and linear Roman numerals as austere, with the ornate crown acting as a decadent counterpoint. He also interprets the cabochon as a nod to Cartier’s jewellery heritage. These are Benedictus’s readings of the design, not explanations quoted from Cartier.
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That contrast is central to his complaint: a decorative accent intended—or at least read by him—as an embellishment becomes the part of the watch he cannot ignore. Whether it feels elegant or distracting is a matter of taste.
What does the article say about the cabochon’s material?
Benedictus writes that Cartier uses genuine sapphires for cabochons on precious-metal watches and synthetic spinel on steel models, but qualifies that statement as his understanding. The article does not establish the materials used on every Tank, or on current, reference-specific models. Check the specifications for an individual watch rather than treating the claim as a universal rule.
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Is this a guide to buying a Cartier Tank?
No. Benedictus’s piece is an opinion article, not a current model comparison or buying guide. It does not identify particular Tank references or compare their dimensions, movements, prices, or specifications. Its focus is one writer’s reaction to a recognizable design feature.
The article also says Louis Cartier rolled out the Tank in 1919, but that historical claim is presented here as an assertion in Benedictus’s piece, not as independently verified history.
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Why the crown divides opinion
The same flourish can read as jewellery-inspired decoration or as an awkward interruption in an otherwise crisp design. Benedictus lands firmly on the second side: the blue cabochon is the detail that ruins the Tank for him. Readers who see it differently need not treat his response as a verdict on the watch’s quality—or as evidence of what Cartier intended.
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