Ballon Bleu de Cartier Men’s Watch W6920037 by E. Lowry

This Ballon Bleu Cartier timepiece (W6920037) is very similar to the Ballon Bleu W6900551 in that both are 42 mm in diameter, run on an automatic movement, are water resistant to 30 meters (or 100 feet) and feature gold casings, crowns, and bezels. The primary difference between these two watches is their color schemes. This particular Ballon Bleu (W6920037) is made of pink (rather than yellow) gold and has a chocolate brown (rather than a silvered opaline) guilloche dial. Admittedly, I prefer the color scheme on this watch because I feel that it matches Cartier’s description of this model more accurately—that is, classical yet also futuristic. The Cartier website has expressed a desire to embody in the Ballon Bleu the sense of both familiarity and strangeness and this watch seems to come closer to the mark than the W6900551. The chocolate brown dial makes the pink-gold look more like copper or brass, which gives the watch more of an offbeat appearance. The brown dial is also unusual and gives the watch a certain sense of earthiness.

Pros: If you are into steampunk, but don’t want anything too flashy, this watch will do nicely. Like the W6900551, attractive and distinctive features of this watch include an opaline dial, laquered roman numerals, sword-shaped steel hands, and a double adjustable deployant buckle.

Possible cons: Although leather straps are beautiful, they require attention. They shouldn’t get wet, so if your strap gets dirty you will have to try to clean it without using water. The color of the strap will also fade with excessive exposure to the sun and may become brittle in hot dry climates. An automatic movement means that this watch will need to be re-set every so often. Some consumers may appreciate this as they enjoy keeping tabs on their watch’s accuracy under different conditions. Other consumers may find maintenance to be tedious. There is no information about this watch’s power reserve.

Are you sure that this is what you want? As with all slightly offbeat models, it’s important to think about whether or not you will still appreciate the way it looks five to ten years from now. If you have made sure that you are familiar with all that the Ballon Bleu line has to offer, then you are probably ready to buy this watch.