An archival photograph showing this model may be seen in: Le Temps de Cartier, Barracca, Negretti, Nencini, 1989, p. 163.
This watch is one of only two or three known examples, made circa 1928. Two others were offered for sale by Antiquorum: the first, was sold in I-long Kong, May 30, 1989, lot 348, for HK$ 222,000 (SFr. 49'060); the second, was sold in St. Moritz, on February 25, 1990, lot 155, for SFr. 52'800. Wristwatches with concealed dial appeared shortly after 1920, by which time wristwatches were selling better than pocket watches. For sport and everyday wristwatches, eminent designers and makers were keen to find an equivalent to the popular hunting cased pocket watches which can easily be personalised with a monogram or enamelled decoration on the cover. Cartier and Verger, in France, used mechanisms such as the guillotine with sliding shutters, already invented for dress watches, and Leon Hatot, with a watch featuring a spring loaded hinged cover, presented his own solution. Cartier, with its Savonnette model, also used a hinged cover, without it being spring loaded. Hatot's solution was also adopted by most of the Swiss designers such as Wenger, Niton as well as those working for Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe. In this respect, one of the most successful solutions was that of the celebrated Revecco invented by Rene Chauvot (French Patent No. 712868 from March 4, 1931), first produced by Fontainemelon S.A., often retailed by Gubelin, and then acquired by Jaeger LeCoultre. The cases of most of the watches with concealed dial, produced between 1920 and 1935, were of high quality, often with engraved decoration on the band and bezel; the cover was sometimes made in two colored gold with geometrical decoration in an Art Deco pattern.