Okay, so I’ve been wanting to get into the whole watch thing for a while now, you know, as a bit of a statement piece. And I kept coming back to the Cartier Santos. It just looked so classic, so timeless. But man, those price tags! I decided I needed to do some digging, see what my options were.
First, I started browsing around, just to get a feel for the different models. There are a bunch of them, it turns out! There’s the Santos Dumont, the Santos Galbee, and a whole lot more. I quickly realized that a brand new one was way out of my budget.
So, I started looking at pre-owned options. I figured, why not? Someone else had probably already taken the big depreciation hit, and I could maybe snag a deal. I hit up a few websites. One place called SwissWatchExpo seemed to have a decent selection, so I spent some time there.
- They had some Cartier Santos listed for around $3,000 to $4,000, which, while still not cheap, was definitely better.
- I saw a Cartier Santos Ronde for just over $2,800. Not bad!
- Then there were some fancier ones, like a white gold one with a blue dial, going for over $13,000. Yeah, not for me right now.
I also checked out some other places. It was kind of a mixed bag. Some places had good prices, others were all over the place. I even saw a Cartier CHRONOSCAPH for like, a dollar on one site. Seriously, one dollar! I’m pretty sure that was a mistake, but it was funny to see.
Then I started looking at the materials. You’ve got your stainless steel, which is the most common, but also titanium, ceramic, and even two-tone versions with gold accents. And of course, diamonds! I saw some Cartier Santos watches with diamonds that were going for tens of thousands of dollars. I mean, they looked amazing, but who has that kind of money to spend on a watch?
In the end
After a few weeks of this, I managed to find a pretty decent deal on a pre-owned stainless steel Cartier Santos. It wasn’t perfect, but it was in good condition and the price was right. I pulled the trigger, and now I’m a proud owner of a Cartier. It felt like a bit of a treasure hunt, honestly. I’m no expert on it now, but I did find the information to buy the watch I wanted.
