“A dynamic group biography studded with design history and high-society dash . . . [This]
elegantly wrought narrative bears the Cartier hallmark.”— The Economist The “astounding”
(André Leon Talley) story of the family behind the Cartier empire and the three brothers who
turned their grandfather’s humble Parisian jewelry store into a global luxury icon—as told by a
great-granddaughter with exclusive access to long-lost family archives “Ms. Cartier Brickell
has done her grandfather proud.”— The Wall Street Journal The Cartiers is the revealing
tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its
heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy only create” and who made
their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century thanks to
their unique and complementary talents: Louis the visionary designer who created the first
men’s wristwatch to help an aviator friend tell the time without taking his hands off the
controls of his flying machine Pierre the master dealmaker who bought the New York
headquarters on Fifth Avenue for a double-stranded natural pearl necklace and Jacques the
globe-trotting gemstone expert whose travels to India gave Cartier access to the world’s best
rubies emeralds and sapphires inspiring the celebrated Tutti Frutti jewelry. Francesca
Cartier Brickell whose great-grandfather was the youngest of the brothers has traveled the
world researching her family’s history tracking down those connected with her ancestors and
discovering long-lost pieces of the puzzle along the way. Now she reveals never-before-told
dramas romances intrigues betrayals and more. The Cartiers also offers a
behind-the-scenes look at the firm’s most iconic jewelry—the notoriously cursed Hope Diamond
the Romanov emeralds the classic panther pieces—and the long line of stars from the worlds of
fashion film and royalty who wore them from Indian maharajas and Russian grand duchesses to
Wallis Simpson Coco Chanel and Elizabeth Taylor. Published in the two-hundredth anniversary
year of the birth of the dynasty’s founder Louis-François Cartier this book is a magnificent
definitive epic social history shown through the deeply personal lens of one legendary family.
