Cartier SA is a French jeweler and watch manufacturer that is a subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA. The company carries the name of the Cartier family of jewelers whose control came to an end in the 1960s. The company has a very long and distinguished history of serving all manors of royalty, celebrities, and the well-to-do.

The Prince of Wales once hailed Cartier as “Jeweler to the Kings, King of Jewelers.” Louis-Francois Cartier founded the company in Paris in 1847. He took over the workshop of his master and began making quality pieces of jewelry. Louis' son, Alfred Cartier, took over administration of the company in 1874, but it was Alfred's sons, Pierre, Jacques and Louis who were responsible for establishing the world-wide brand name of Cartier.

In 1904, a British aviator named Alberto Santos-Dumont complained of the unreliability of using pocket watches while flying. Dumont's friend, Cartier, took it upon himself to answer the challenge and developed a flat wristwatch. This watch was a hit with many of Cartier's clients, and thus the “Santos” design was born.

This was the first men's wristwatch in history. Louis was responsible for a lot of Cartier's designs, such as the mystery clocks, fashionable wristwatches, and Art Deco designs. Cartier signed a contract with Edmond Jaeger in 1907, and agreed to exclusively supply the movements for Cartier watches. Cartier had several branches by this time, including branches in London, St. Petersburg, and New York. Cartier was quickly becoming the most popular watch brand in the world.

1912 saw the introduction of the Baignoire and Tortue models. They were followed by the Tank model's debut 5 years later in 1917. Cartier drew inspiration from a newly introduced war machine on the western front, and Louis Cartier then designed the most famous Cartier watch, the Cartier Tank watch.

This line has survived nearly a century, with well over thirty varieties of watch being made. Cartier watches can be found with movements from Vacheron Constantin, Movado, LeCoultre, and Audemars-Piguet. It was during the 1920s that Cartier began adding its own reference numbers to watches, usually a four-digit stamp code. Many of today's collectors refuse to accept a watch as a Cartier unless this code is present on the watch.

In 1909, Pierre Cartier established the New York City branch, moving in 1917 to its current location on Fifth Avenue. After Pierre passed away in 1964, Jean-Jacques Cartier (Jacque's son), Marionne Claudelle (Pierre's daughter), and Claude Cartier (Louis's son) sold the business.

A group of investors led by Joseph Kanoui purchased Cartier Paris in 1972. Cartier began to go in a slightly new direction, but also kept a careful eye on the original detail that made the name famous in the first place. In 1974 and 1976 respectively, Cartier New York and Cartier London were bought back.

The Cartier interests were combined in 1979, thus creating the “Cartier Monde” uniting and controlling New York, London and Paris.