Fifth Fake Cartier Cheich Discovered, The Only One In White Gold
In the realm of watchmaking, the very high levels, there are timepieces so rare that they are spoken of in hushed tones. Sometimes, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, a piece pops out of nowhere. It is as if a supreme force intervenes to keep that spell alive and offer us an unexpected gift.
I have known the story I am about to tell you for a while but for various reasons I was asked to keep it to myself. Now that I have the green light I can tell it to you.
What you see in this article is the fifth Fake Cartier Cheich in white gold (until now it was thought that only four had been manufactured), a unique piece that almost no one knew existed.
Cartier Cheich History
In the 1980s Alain Dominique Perrin, then CEO of Cartier, and Thierry Sabine, the inventor of the rally for two and four wheels then called Paris Dakar, established the Cartier Challenge, a competition within the competition. To win this trophy a runner had to come first for two consecutive years in a race that takes place mostly in the desert. The prize consisted of a Cartier Cheich watch.
The Cheich is inspired by the traditional cotton Tagelmust scarf, also known as “cheich”, worn by Tuareg men in the Sahara desert to protect themselves from the sun and also the logo of the first editions of the Paris Dakar. The watch features a woven cloth of three different gold alloys: white, yellow and pink, fused together. It was produced in two sizes, with or without diamonds, to be awarded to both the male and female winners of the race.
Until now, it was thought that only four examples were built, each slightly different from the other. Rahier’s Cheich was sold at a 2022 Sotheby’s auction for over a million euros.
The Fifth Cartier Cheich White Gold
To recap, the four Cartier Cheichs known to date, despite differing in size and other details, have in common a case of a similar shade to yellow gold generated by the fusion of the precious metal yellow, pink and white. So what does this white gold example have to do with it?
The Cartier Cheich in white gold that has surfaced these days is an unparalleled masterpiece and the fifth. According to The Watch Boutique, the international luxury watch store also based in Milan in Brera that owns it, this timepiece was made by Cartier in 2010 exclusively for Giorgio Seragnoli.
Those who know the brand’s history well will know that Seragnoli was one of the world’s greatest collectors of Cartier in white metals. Together with Osvaldo Patrizzi, he was the co-author of the book White Cartier Bianco that minutely describes 255 pieces of his collection with cases in steel, white gold and platinum.
The fifth Cartier Cheich that has appeared now that he had commissioned from Cartie, is not illustrated in the book as it was published in 2006, while as already mentioned the watch was produced in 2010.
This Cheich with a white gold case has “N° 1” engraved on the case back. That writing is a bit cryptic but I understand the reason because Cartier, at the time it was built, did not put it in black and white that it was a unique piece, perhaps leaving a glimmer of hope for the future.