Front view
Dial, hands and bezel as delivered.
Case-back view
Case-back engraving and, where fitted, the sapphire display.
Movement
Calibre with its finishing and decoration.
On the wrist
Worn shot for proportion and strap drape.
Cartier · Ballon Bleu
Cartier Ballon Bleu 36 mm Silvered Platinum
Reference 20777OR.53
Reference at a glance
- Brand
- Cartier
- Collection
- Ballon Bleu
- Model
- Cartier Ballon Bleu 36 mm Silvered Platinum
- Reference number
- 20777OR.53
- Year / era
- 2001 · 2000s — modern production
- Complication
- Tourbillon
- Movement
- In-house automatic, Superlative Chronometer
- Case material
- Platinum 950
- Dial type
- Silvered opaline
- Strap / bracelet
- NATO textile strap
- Water resistance
- 500 m
- Limited-edition status
- Regular production, not a limited edition
Case, dial & bracelet
- Case dimensions
- 36 mm
- Case thickness
- 14.1 mm
- Case material
- Platinum 950
- Bezel
- Baguette diamond rainbow
- Crystal
- Box sapphire with AR coating
- Dial
- Silvered opaline
- Hands
- Rhodium-plated baton hands with luminous fill
- Indexes
- Applied faceted white-gold indexes
- Bracelet / strap
- NATO textile strap
- Clasp / buckle
- Folding clasp in matching case metal
- Water resistance
- 500 m
Movement
- Movement / calibre
- Calibre 64C — In-house automatic, Superlative Chronometer
- Movement type
- Automatic with micro-rotor
- Frequency
- 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
- Power reserve
- 5 days
- Number of jewels
- 33 jewels
- Complications
- Tourbillon
- Functions
- Chronograph, tachymeter, date
- Watchmaker
- Finishing, assembly and timing are carried out in the manufacture's own atelier.
Production & market
- Production period
- 2001 – 2016
- Limited-edition quantity
- Not applicable
- Current market information
- Values have stabilised after the 2022 correction; condition and box-and-papers drive the premium.
Designer
Jörg Hysek
Jörg Hysek left Rolex and Seiko's European studios to build a design practice in Geneva, giving houses such as Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Seiko and TAG Heuer their sculptural, architecture-led cases before founding his own brand, HD3.
Historical significance
Cartier Ballon Bleu 36 mm Silvered Platinum sits within Cartier's Ballon Bleu line, introduced in 2001. It carries the house codes established since 1847 — platinum 950 case, silvered opaline dial and in-house automatic, superlative chronometer — and is one of the references collectors use to date the evolution of the collection.
Interesting facts
- The case is finished by hand, alternating polished and satin-brushed surfaces in a single pass so the edges stay razor sharp.
- The reference was originally planned as a one-year run and stayed in the catalogue for well over a decade.
- The bracelet tapers across its length, which is why the profile looks thinner on the wrist than the specification suggests.
The House
Cartier
Brand facts
- Founding year
- 1847
- Founder
- Louis-François Cartier
- Headquarters
- France
- Tier
- Luxury
- Major collections
- Santos, Tank, Ballon Bleu, Panthère, Pasha, Baignoire, Cle, Privé
- Signature technologies
- Hand-applied guilloché dials · Proprietary case-hardening and polishing · In-house hairspring production
- Famous movements
- In-house manual-winding · In-house automatic chronograph · In-house automatic, chronometer certified · In-house automatic, Superlative Chronometer
- Notable watches
- Cartier Santos 43 mm Mother-of-pearl Sapphire (1976) · Cartier Santos 36 mm Silvered 18k (1986) · Cartier Santos 44 mm Salmon Grade (1992) · Cartier Santos 43 mm Green Carbon (1980)
Brand history
Cartier has spent more than 179 years refining a single idea: a watch should outlive its owner. From the earliest workshop pieces to today's Santos, the house has balanced technical ambition with a recognisable design language, and its collections remain among the most closely followed by collectors worldwide.
Louis-François Cartier established Cartier in 1847, working from France at a time when precision was measured by hand. The founder's obsession with finishing and accuracy still defines every Cartier calibre produced today.
Historical milestones
1847
Louis-François Cartier founds Cartier in France.
1887
Cartier earns its first international recognition for precision timekeeping.
1969
The quartz era forces Cartier to redefine mechanical watchmaking.
1990
Cartier enters the modern collector market with its signature lines.
2024
Cartier continues to produce Santos, Tank, Ballon Bleu and other icons in limited numbers.