Cartier Roadster "Las Vegas Roulette" Dial Luxury Watch Review

The Cartier Roadster is a modern day tribute to the 1950s "golden age of the sports car." As a contemporary Cartier, it's also a timeless statement of upscale style. This 43mm tall x 37m wide stainless steel Cartier Roadster features the rare "Vegas Roulette" or "Porsche" dial and can be considered the definitive model of Cartier's most ambitious modern watch. When it debuted in the early 2000s, the Cartier Roadster raised eyebrows for its aggressive blend of sports watch versatility, automotive inspiration, and luxury finish. Not quite a tonneau and not quite a rectangle, the case reads as a true "roadster" viewed from overhead with the top down. While every Cartier Roadster dial bears elements of automotive imagery, the "Porsche" dial takes this treatment to the logical limit. The alternating white and red Arabic numerals, concentric circular hour track, inboard minute hashes, and needle-like baton hands are the very image of a 1950s Porsche 356 speedometer. More than a nostalgia trip, the Cartier's look is charming, functional, and utterly unique among modern luxury watches. A discreet date window with dial-matched black disc replaces the numeral at three o'clock, but it's the magnifying lens that captivates. Like its Cartier stablemates the Ballon Bleu, the Cle, and the Pasha, the Cartier Roadster employs a distinctive crown assembly. But the Roadster takes the unprecedented measure of integrating the crown, the crown guard, the case flank, the bezel, and the da