Cartier Tank Louis "Jumbo" Automatique ref. 17011

1970 | Yellow gold | Automatic | 25.5mm

The Tank Louis Cartier has existed in various sizes since Louis Cartier conceived the original in 1917, but not all proportions are created equal. Reference 17011 occupies a precise and rarely discussed middle ground: larger than the standard Tank Louis, smaller than the true Jumbo, and housing an automatic movement rather than a manual wind — a combination that places it at the intersection of elegance and daily practicality in a way that neither the smaller nor the larger references quite achieve.

The automatic movement is the technical distinction that matters here. Where most vintage Tank Louis references ran on slim manually wound calibres, the 17011 accommodates a self-winding movement within the same flat rectangular case profile — an engineering constraint that Cartier resolved without compromising the watch's proportions. It is a detail that goes unnoticed on the wrist and appreciated only by those who know to look for it.

The dial is the Tank Louis at its most canonical: white, Roman numerals in black, blued steel hands, the railway minute track, the cabochon sapphire crown. In yellow gold at this intermediate size, it wears with a presence that the standard format cannot match and without the imposing scale of the true Jumbo.

Finding a 17011 in any condition takes patience. Finding one in yellow gold at this size is something else entirely.