Muhammed Ali's Wristwatch by Cartier

Form a contemporary perspective, it is hard to imaging the heavyweight champion of the world wearing a watch as delicate at the Cartier Tank JC. 

“There's a big question today around, ‘Are these Cartier watches very small?’” Fane says. “Well, they're not small. It's only a perception of fashion. And today, because everyone's used to getting these kitchen clocks on their wrists, Cartier watches do look small by comparison. But in their heyday, people as powerful and huge as Muhammad Ali saw the elegance in them and wanted to own one.”

“Ali is wearing the Tank JC, which is a classic Tank,” says Fane. “It was the second model they made. It was originally called the Tank LC after [founder] Louis Cartier. And then by the ‘70s, when Ali was wearing his, it was called the JC after Jean-Jacques Cartier [the son of Louis’s brother Jacques Cartier, who helped establish the company in the early 1900s].”

Harry Fane, the world’s most preeminent Cartier watch dealer

The Cartier Tank JC can be viewed among all others at our Manhattan gallery, APR57. If you like Ali's style you will like our radio show. Tune into WOR 710 AM, every Sunday evening between 8pm-9pm.If you have anything you would like to sell or have appraised please contact us. We are the only free appraisal service in town and we would love to tell you more about your piece.