Cartier Ballon Bleu Chronograph 47mm Luxury Watch Review

http://www.thewatchbox.com/watches/cartier#.VX3dbFqRPFJ The Ballon Bleu de Cartier is the breadwinner for the juggernaut Richemont Group's number-one moneymaker. And luxury watches like this Cartier Ballon Bleu XL Chronograph are the reason. At 47mm in 18-karat white gold, this feels like the watch Louis Cartier would have designed had he lived in the post-Y2K world. Consider the magnitude of the Ballon Bleu's success; no branch of the Richemont Swiss luxury conglomerate - the second largest in the world - thrills more customers than Cartier, and no Cartier watch is more coveted than the Ballon Bleu. Since its 2006 launch, the Cartier Ballon Bleu has defined "lighting in a bottle" throughout the watch industry. Particularly scintillating (and galling from the perspective of envious Swatch and Rolex execs) has been the Ballon Bleu's performance on the now paramount Hong Kong/Chinese market. More than a successful watch, the Cartier Ballon Bleu has become a full-featured line of diverse sizes, materials, and complications. This Cartier Ballon Bleu XL Chronograph debuted in 2009 as Cartier began to flesh out the offerings and capitalize on the success of the first time-only models. At 47mm in 18-karat white gold, the Ballon Bleu XL Chronograph boasts immense presence on the wrist. From a visual standpoint, few dress watches pack a comparable impact without resorting to gimmicks or faddish hooks. The XL Chronograph pulls off an aesthetic coup simply by balancing the inter