1 / 4 Replica collection · Santos Galbée · Dress watch with a date aperture (published reference design)
Model reference: 1566
Cartier's Santos Galbée ref. 1566 as the frames show it: a bowed square case with a gold-toned bezel held by eight screws, a pale silvered Roman-numeral dial and a bracelet whose rows carry gold-toned screw heads.
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About this watch
Four frames of the same watch are below. Straight on, the whole piece is in view: a square case whose sides bow outward, a gold-toned bezel standing slightly proud of it with eight screws set into the bezel, a pale silvered dial carrying black Roman numerals, a printed minute track and two blue hands, and a bracelet of pale links whose rows each carry gold-toned screw heads. The second frame takes the case from below at an angle, showing the crown with its blue cabochon at the right and the bracelet turning away out of the shot; the third closes on the dial and its lettering; the fourth lays the folding clasp open, flat against the background.
The four frames are shown as they arrived, and they are the only record of this watch that the page relies on. Where the reference has a published description — reference tables for the 1566 give a square case of 29 mm by 41 mm at 6.7 mm thick, a two-tone build of stainless steel with an 18-carat yellow gold bezel, eight screws holding the bezel, a sapphire crystal and a quartz calibre (Cartier 87 / 687) — that description is stated as the manufacturer's catalogue configuration for the reference, not as a finding about the piece the photographs show.
Everything a photograph cannot settle is put to the seller instead. Which calibre is fitted, what each part of this particular watch is made of, which bracelet or strap comes with it, what it weighs, and what its water resistance has been tested to are all questions rather than claims, and they are listed at the foot of the page.
The curve sits in the flanks of the case, not in the dial. The case stays square in plan, but between the lugs its sides bow outward, and that bulge is what the name refers to — in the second frame the flank swells away from the bezel and then tapers back towards the bracelet, which is the quickest way to tell this case from a flat-sided square one.
The case is not the only thing that curves away from the bezel: the bracelet leaves the case in a continuous line, and its screw-and-pin rows carry the same screw heads that the bezel does. The published tables for reference 1566 give the case as 29 mm by 41 mm at 6.7 mm thick, and you can see the proportions in the straight-on frame — a small square head with the bracelet running straight out of it top and bottom. Because the case is square rather than round, the figure across it says less about the fit than the length from lug to lug.
In the frames the warm colour is concentrated rather than spread. The gold reading appears in the bezel band around the dial, in the screw heads set into the bracelet rows, and in the thin band of colour at the joint between case and bracelet; the flanks of the case, the lugs and the bodies of the links stay pale. That is why the bracelet reads as a pale strip with a line of warm dots running down it rather than as a band of solid colour.
Separately from what the frames show, the published reference tables describe the 1566 as a two-tone build — a stainless-steel case with an 18-carat yellow gold bezel — and that is the manufacturer's catalogue configuration for the reference as a whole, not a statement about the metals used on this piece. The metal of each part of the offered watch, including any plating or wrap on the gold-coloured surfaces, is one of the questions put to the seller.
The dial is pale and silvered, and it is not a flat surface: it carries a fine spun grain that runs from the centre outwards, so the same dial looks bright at one angle and almost plain at another. Over that surface the Roman numerals, the square minute track that frames them, the thin inner rectangle and the CARTIER lettering are all printed in black, and the two hands are blue. Small printed lettering sits along the bottom edge of the dial.
Dial finish is a per-piece question on this model, because the published tables list the 1566 as having been offered in more than one dial colour across the production run. Colour is therefore not part of the reference name, and the dial on this page is described only as the third frame shows it. If you are comparing two 1566 watches, ask for each dial photographed straight on in daylight, with the light the same, before deciding that they differ.
They settle shapes and nothing else. Between them the frames show the bowed square case, the gold-toned bezel with its eight screws, the pale silvered dial with black Roman numerals and blue hands, the bracelet rows with their gold-toned screw heads and the open folding clasp. No frame shows the back of the case or anything inside it, so the movement cannot be identified from these shots.
What the photographs cannot establish is the list that goes to the seller: which calibre is fitted in the offered watch, what each part — case, bezel, bracelet links, screws — is actually made of, what thickness any plating or wrap has, which bracelet or strap is supplied, the measured weight, and the state of the water resistance. Each of those is written into the inquiry list rather than assumed from a picture.
The bracelet is the part of this watch that carries the most visible detail. Its rows are pale, each row holding gold-toned screw heads, and the construction behind those heads is the screw-and-pin arrangement that the bezel screws echo. The clasp in the fourth frame is a folding type, shown opened flat against the background with engraved lettering running along the blades.
Ask how many links are fitted, how many spare links come with the watch, and what wrist size the bracelet is currently set for, because missing links change the fit more than the case size does and they are easy to overlook in a photograph. Ask for the bracelet laid out flat and closed, plus the clasp open and shut, and ask whether the bracelet supplied with the watch is the one in these frames.
Start with the reference number, then use the case. Published tables for the 1566 give a square case of 29 mm by 41 mm with a 6.7 mm thickness, a bezel held by eight visible screws, a sapphire crystal and a quartz calibre (Cartier 87 / 687). Two watches of this reference can still look unalike, because the dial was offered in several finishes over the run, so the case and the reference number are the steadier ground than the dial colour.
The details that hold across the frames here are the bowed flank between the lugs, the eight screws in the bezel whose line continues down into the bracelet's own screws, and the printed square minute track that frames the Roman numerals. Bring the reference 1566 into the conversation along with the case size you want, and ask which other Santos Galbée references are on offer at the same time so the differences can be compared directly instead of from memory.
Specification
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Model reference | 1566 |
| Model size | 29 mm across the case |
| Dial | Pale silvered, with a fine spun grain running from the centre; black Roman numerals and blue hands |
| Dial print | CARTIER above the centre, with small printed lettering along the bottom edge of the dial |
| Bezel design | Gold-toned band standing slightly proud of the case, held by eight screws set into the bezel |
| Hour-marker layout | Roman numerals around the dial, framed by a printed square minute track |
| Hour markers | Printed in black on the dial surface, with no raised edges visible in the close-up frame |
| Hand arrangement | Two blue hands from the centre, with no visible third hand in the frames |
| Date display | Published tables for reference 1566 list a date aperture in the dial; these frames do not show one |
| Colour combination | Pale silvered dial with a gold-toned bezel and warm screw heads over pale bracelet links |
| Case shape | Square in plan, with the flanks bowing outward between the lugs |
| Crown | Fluted crown at the right of the case, set with a blue cabochon |
| Bracelet shown | Rows of pale links, each row holding gold-toned screw heads, on a screw-and-pin construction |
| Clasp shown | Folding clasp, opened flat in the fourth frame, with engraved lettering along its blades |
| Strap shown | None — the watch in the frames is on its bracelet |
| Strap (reference supply) | Not settled by these frames; the bracelet or strap supplied with the offered watch is a question for the seller |
| Case size (published design data) | 29 mm by 41 mm, 6.7 mm thick, as given in the reference tables for the 1566 |
| Movement (reference design) | Quartz calibre, Cartier 87 / 687, as published for reference 1566 |
| Crystal (reference design) | Sapphire, as published for reference 1566 |
| Dial variants (reference design) | Published tables list the dial as offered in several finishes across the 1566 production run, which is why dial colour is a per-piece detail |
Questions
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