In particular, the domineering Louis Cartier is brought vividly to life. Proud (he once challenged a nobleman to a duel to the death over a social snub), imperiously convinced of his infallibility in matters of design, visionary, mercurial, and relentlessly demanding, it was he more than anyone else who was responsible for what we think of today as the most essential spirit of super clone Cartier.

But it was all three brothers working together – the tireless travels of Jacques Cartier in search of the next great gemstone; the shrewd business acumen of Pierre Cartier, who played on the tastes of his American clients with the skill of a virtuoso on a Guarneri violin – that made for a generation of irresistible empire-building. That the brothers needed each others’ particular skills and talents was something even Louis Cartier frankly admitted, as he established himself as possessing poor judgment in finance early on and maintained that reputation for the rest of his life. As Jean-Jacques Cartier told the author, “Louis used to say, ‘It suffices for me to buy a share in a company for it to plummet in value.'” And also brought to life are those who, though not members of the family, became so through their own genius for design – including Jeanne Toussaint, who brought her love for the panther to the house of Swiss luxury replica Cartier online and who was, for many years, Cartier’s Artistic Director Of Jewelry. She and Louis Cartier were lovers, but never married, though they remained profoundly devoted to each other until his death in 1942.

The family eventually was a victim of its own success, which seems to be the inevitable fate of dynasties. By the 1970s, with the younger generation of cousins disinterested in the business and the very foundations of luxury changing irrevocably, the Cartiers sold off the three branches, which were eventually consolidated under the Richemont Group – and so things stand today. But the story of the family is agelessly and endlessly fascinating. The aaa quality Cartier replica watches ought to be considered required reading for anyone interested not only in the history of Cartier, but also the social history of luxury and how it evolved in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Cartier was one of those firms that really invented luxury as we have come to know it today, and to read The Cartiers is not only to find oneself immersed in the genuinely gripping story of a business and creative dynasty, but also in the larger history of luxury Cartier copies watches, of which the firm was, and is, a part. And it is, for anyone in the world of luxury, a reminder that creativity cannot be bought by the kilogram from a supplier – that it arises from, and is nurtured by, both raw talent and an understanding for the irreplaceable role that it plays in the creation of enduring beauty.