New Cartier Roadster 2026 Collection

Borna Bošnjak

• Cartier relaunches the Roadster in Medium and Large sizes, spanning seven new references in a mixture of metals.
• The cases measure in at 38mm wide and 47m lug-to-lug for the Large, and 34.9mm x 42.5mm for the Medium, both around 10mm thick.
• With a choice of blue or white dials, the new Roadster is powered by automatic movements and water-resistant to 100 metres.

If you want to get a good gauge of the current state of the watch design cycle, Cartier’s offering is as good a barometer as any, often giving a good indication of broader fashion trends, too. Introduced in 2002 and produced for around about a decade, the Cartier Roadster was the jeweller giant’s attempt to mould the recognisable Tank shape into a driver’s watch. Regardless of the model, all the Roadsters followed the same, barrel-shaped, curvaceous features that nodded to the golden era of automotive design – the 1950s – but doing so with a zany dash of Y2K. After more than a decade of dormancy, the Cartier Roadster is back, replaying those same old hits, but perhaps going with demure rather than fetch.

The hero model of this revival is this, the new Roadster Large in steel, with a set of blue Roman numerals set against a white dial with that concentric circle pattern. The case is 38mm across and 47mm lug-to-lug, with a thickness of 10.06mm matching its two-tone and yellow gold stablemates, and staying quite slender for a watch with more than a hint of sporty intention. As this is a Roadster, it means it also has the signature crown that flows into the bulging right-hand side of the case, along with the shape-matched date cyclops. The look has always been distinctive (even on past Roadster S models that were more suggestive), but being an integral part of the Roadster’s DNA, it had to be brought back. One of the easier ways to tell a new Roadster from an older one is the positioning of the fasteners. On the new model, you’ll find four rivets dotted in each corner of the bezel, replacing the screws that used to sit at the end of the lugs on first-generation Roadsters.

Looking closer, you’ll notice that the date has an additional frame around it in the shape of a polished silver overlay, adding further dimension to the dial. Combined with the circular striations (another signature) and the large, applied numerals and minute markers, it makes for quite a busy scene, though it all makes sense once you zoom back out. One omission that I do find unfortunate is that the central dial medallion now has a simple, matte texture rather than the rosette-like engraving of early examples, a change similar to the one made in the latest Française.

While a 38mm x 47mm watch is quite conservatively sized by most standards, Cartier is also releasing three Medium models that echo the Large models’ designs, but downsize their dimensions to 34.9mm wide and 42.5mm lug-to-lug, also reducing thickness to 9.7mm. While it shaves off a few millimetres in size, the Roadster Medium keeps the 100-metre water-resistance rating, and is available in the same three metal choices – steel, two-tone, and 18k yellow gold, with the only difference being the blue PVD dial, which is only available in Large.

Both variants feature automatic movements – the Large gets the widely used 1847 MC, while the Medium is equipped with the 1899 MC, which you’ll also find in the new, automatic Tank Louis. Both have power reserves of up to 40 hours, as well as balance bridges rather than cocks, which should provide some additional shock-resistance in case you mean to test these out behind the wheel of an off-roader rather than a simple B-road cruise.

Cartier Roadster 2026 collection pricing and availability

Cartier is yet to announce both the pricing and availability for its 2026 Roadster collection. Price: TBC