Rare, bizarre, and prohibitively expensive — the Cartier Cheich is a highly fascinating watch.
In 2022, we auctioned off a rare Cartier Cheich at Sotheby’s, one of the world’s largest auction houses. I use the phrase we loosely.
Home base for me is Sotheby’s in New York, and the Paris office sold off the timepiece. And while not all hands were on deck for this project, all eyes were.
My colleagues in London, Geneva, and at home saw this watch sell for $1.1 million, smashing past its $400,000 high estimate.
Up until then, the Cheich was like a unicorn to me. I’d heard of it, but come on, does it even exist? Truly, this rare and beautifully unique model is one of the most fascinating watches in horology.
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The Cartier Cheich: A Little History
In the ‘70s and ‘80s, the Paris-Dakar Rally hosted a race that spanned over 6,000 miles. It ran through Africa and Europe.
At the time, Thierry Sabine was the CEO of Cartier. He ratified the creation of the Cheich as a prize to whoever could win this perilous and tricky race. But that’s not all. The recipient of the Cartier Cheich had to achieve this twice, and back to back.
To win the “Cartier Challenge”, drivers needed to traverse dune crossings, rocks, camel grass, mud, and special off-road sections. This is why racers often use off-road vehicles instead of modified on-road competitive vehicles.
Then, in 1984, a professional motocross racer from Belgium, Gaston Rahier, completed the first part of the challenge. In 1985, he did it again, making him the first and only winner of the Cartier Challenge.
He kept the watch privately for 40 years until the prior-mentioned Sotheby’s sale.
Supposedly, there are four in the world. Though this claim is shrouded in rumors and lore, which I’ll get to momentarily.
But first, let’s talk about that distinct and eye-catching design.
The Design
The case of the Cheich looks like an elegant, almost-liquid abstraction at first glance. This is a testament to its good design. It’s meant to look like a real-life cheich. But unless you know what that is, it just looks like a creative, abstract piece of wearable art.
A cheich is a piece of cloth, a cotton head scarf. Sahara Desert natives, or Tuaregs, wear it to protect their heads against the sun. If you didn’t know that, you likely didn’t see it on the watch’s design. But I bet now you do.
The stately Roman-numeral-clad dial serves as the face of the Tuareg. With the head-like silhouette, the watch face becomes a literal face.
Moreover, the Dakar race’s official logo is the cheich headdress.
Alain-Dominique Perrin — Cartier’s president at the time — and Jacques Diltoer — Cartier’s creative director — designed the watch.
On the original Cheich, the weaves of the headdress were a mix of white gold, yellow gold, and rose gold. This tridor aesthetic provided even more dimensionality. It also ran on a mechanical movement.
A Legendary Rarity
Cartier isn’t a stranger to making rare, limited-run timepieces. The Cartier Crash was reissued with a run of 67.
But four, that’s truly remarkable.
Of course, there’s the one that Rahier won. When it went on auction at Sotheby’s in 2022, a single-minded collector, Eric Ku, went for it hard and won.
This version appeared on the scene in 1983, and it had a sister. Cartier hoped to gift another one to a female winner, so they made a smaller version with diamond settings. Unfortunately, no one ever won this model.
A third came out in 1985 and is currently in Cartier’s possession. Then, a fourth version was lost.
Supposedly, Thierry Sabine gifted this fourth version to Alain-Dominique Perrin. (For those keeping track, Perrin was the Cartier president who helped design the Cheich. Sabine was the CEO who conceptualized the prize.)
However, some believe that it may have been given to another motocross racer, Hubert Auriol. It’s a watch world mystery.
The New White Gold Cheich
The story of the Cheich should have ended in 1986, after the initial four. But, like so many nostalgic IPs out there, it received a reboot. Well, think of it more as a one-off reunion special.
And the person in possession of it isn’t even who Cartier made it for.
In 2010, Cartier agreed to make a white gold Cheich for Giorgio Seragnoli. Like a prewar home with modern creature comforts, it runs on a quartz movement instead of a mechanical like the tridor Cheich.
Seragnoli helped author the Cartier Bianco book about white Cartier timepieces. He was also one of the most important watch collectors in the world, and of course, he specialized in Cartier.
Sadly, by the time the watch was ready for delivery, Signore Seragnoli went bankrupt.
Alessio Zenga, founder of The Watch Boutique, was there to pick up the pieces. His friend, a former director at Cartier, helped set up the showing.
Zenga immediately acquired the timepiece directly from Cartier. Zenga believed there was something inherently Italian about the white gold.
He told GQ that while most of the world prefers yellow gold or platinum, Italians tend to gravitate towards white gold.
So here we are. Four Cheiches floating around as far as we know, with a fifth possibly lost forever. Or, perhaps it’s sitting in someone’s attic, unbeknownst to the owner of the treasure.
The Cheich and Cartier
If you think about it, the Cheich checks many boxes that make it a uniquely Cartier timepiece.
First off, Cartier started out making jewelry — their focus on romance and beauty results in unique, artistic designs. The Cheich, hardly just a workhorse, represents this. It celebrates culture and visuals in a way not all Swiss watchmakers do.
After all, Cartier is French.
Plus, its connection to motorsports gives it horological street cred. And its rarity and status as a Sotheby’s record-breaker? Well, that checks the investment box, too.
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