A fake Cartier Tank Must is a copy of a steel quartz watch Cartier released in 2021. The genuine watch sells new for about $3,000 and up, based on size and strap. Copies sell for $50 to $400. That gap shows up in the case, the dial, and the crown.
What the genuine Tank Must is
- Steel case. Solid caseback with no display window.
- Large: about 33.7 mm by 25.5 mm. Small: about 29.5 mm by 22 mm. Thickness about 6.6 mm.
- Quartz movement. Cartier sells no automatic version in this line.
- Silvered dial, printed Roman numerals, blued steel sword hands.
- Crown set with a blue cabochon.
- Water resistance rated 3 bar, or 30 m.
- A SolarBeat version charges from light through the dial. Its strap is a plant-based material.
Fake tells
- Case thickness. Copies run past 6.6 mm, and the caseback bulges.
- Cabochon. Fakes use plastic or glass. It reads cloudy and sits high on the crown.
- Dial print. Numeral shapes shift. The VII, IX, and X lose serifs and spacing.
- Hands. Painted blue steel instead of blued steel. Too thick for the dial.
- Caseback text. Laser engraving cuts shallow. Reference and serial numbers repeat across batches of copies.
- Case metal. Plated brass feels light in the hand against steel.
- Strap and buckle. Copies use stamped buckles with no Cartier mark.
Checks a watchmaker should make
The standard Tank Must is quartz, so a ticking seconds hand proves nothing. A sweeping hand points to a mechanical movement, which this line does not use. Caseback reference numbers can be compared against the Cartier catalog. Cartier runs no public serial lookup. A boutique or an authorized service center can confirm the case and the movement.
Replica Cartier Tank Must: What You're Actually Buying
Buying checks
- Ask for the invoice and the warranty card.
- Measure the case with a ruler and compare with the listed size.
- Hold the crown cabochon under light and look for bubbles.
- Treat a new-condition Tank Must under about $2,000 on the used market as a question mark.
What is not known
Cartier does not publish production counts for the Tank Must, so a serial number alone cannot date a watch. No public list of fake serial numbers exists. High-end copies get close on photos, and a hands-on check by a watchmaker is the reliable step.