Widths differ across this line. Enter or pick your exact reference to get its width.
18 to 21 mm
Verification: Not yet verified
Attachment: spring bars
31.4 to 43.5 mm cases · 2026
Indicative information. Check your watch before buying a strap: whatsmylugwidth.com is not responsible for an incorrect size.
The story · Since 1904
An aviator wanted to read the time without letting go of his controls, so his friend Louis Cartier put a watch on a strap. On 12 November 1906 Alberto Santos-Dumont flew 220 metres in 21.5 seconds with it on his wrist, and the slim, screwed square still carries his name.
7
Years Santos-Dumont was the only person with the watch (1904 to 1911)
Louis Cartier made a wristwatch for his friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who had asked for a way to tell the time while keeping his hands on the controls. Swisswatches Magazine notes that no document dates the gift exactly; 1904 comes from a Cartier advertisement of 1978 and remains the accepted date.
Santos-Dumont wore the watch for his 220 metre flight of 12 November 1906, the first time a person was filmed flying an aeroplane. For seven years he was the only one to wear the model; Cartier put it on sale in 1911, in platinum or yellow gold, with a Jaeger movement and a gold folding buckle on the strap.
The Santos-Dumont 1913 of 2004 was limited to 100 yellow gold pieces and one in platinum. A larger, screwless model with a Piaget caliber followed in 2005, and a skeletonised Santos-Dumont in white gold in 2011.
At SIHH 2019 Cartier relaunched the Santos-Dumont as a quartz watch in two sizes, on leather straps only, with screws on the bezel instead of rivets. In January 2020 it gained a hand-wound movement, and later in 2020 a series of limited editions named after Santos-Dumont's flying machines.
Cartier added lacquered bezels in 2022, a model with an aeroplane on its rotor in 2023 and the backwards-running Rewind in 2024. In 2026 the large model received a 15-row bracelet in yellow gold or platinum, the first integrated precious-metal bracelet of the modern line.
The Brazilian aviation pioneer asked his friend Louis Cartier for a watch he could read while flying, and received the first Santos in 1904. He wore it for his 220 metre flight of 12 November 1906, and for seven years he was the only person to own one, until Cartier sold the model to the public in 1911.
Wore the limited platinum Santos-Dumont with burgundy lacquer (Ref. CRWGSA0053, 150 pieces) to the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles on 3 December 2023.
Chose a Santos-Dumont in 18-carat rose gold and steel on a black leather strap for the 2021 BAFTAs, with Santos de Cartier cufflinks.
Photographed on a red carpet wearing a Santos-Dumont in 18k rose gold, in a New York Post round-up of Cartier watches.
Wore a Santos-Dumont at the 2023 Met Gala, according to Swisswatches Magazine.
2024. The Santos-Dumont Rewind reverses the 430 MC so its hands turn counterclockwise over inverted numerals; Cartier made 200 in platinum, priced at US$38,400.
2020. Each 2020 limited edition carries an engraving of one of Santos-Dumont's machines: his first balloon Le Bresil (1898), the airship No. 9 La Baladeuse he used to cross Paris in 1903, the 14-bis, and La Demoiselle monoplane of 1908, one of the first serially produced aircraft.
1996. Cartier marked the model's 90th anniversary, belatedly, with 90 platinum Santos-Dumont watches with salmon dials and Breguet-style hands; Quill & Pad calls it very hard to find.
1906. On 12 November 1906 Santos-Dumont flew 220 metres in 21.5 seconds and became the first person filmed in an aeroplane in flight, with the Cartier watch on his wrist.
Louis Cartier created the first Santos-Dumont in 1904 for his aviator friend, a flat wristwatch with a square bezel that let the pilot keep his hands on the controls.
The large model in yellow gold or platinum on a 15-row mesh bracelet of 394 links, each 1.15 mm, inspired by Cartier's made-to-measure bracelets of the 1920s.
The bracelet is attached with conventional spring bars and is interchangeable; it closes with a concealed folding clasp.
A platinum large model with a carnelian dial, numerals placed counterclockwise and hands that turn backwards, driven by the 230 MC; 200 pieces.
Lacquer inlaid in engraved channels of the case and bezel: steel with black lacquer, rose gold (250 pieces) and platinum with burgundy (150 pieces).
The hand-wound 430 MC (a Piaget 430P) arrives in an XL case of 46.6 by 33.9 mm and 7.5 mm thick.
Delugs lists a 19 mm lug width for the XL (WSSA0032).
Four limited editions engraved with Santos-Dumont's aircraft: platinum Le Bresil (WGSA0034, 100 pieces), yellow gold La Baladeuse (WGSA0027, 300), steel and gold 14 Bis (W2SA0015, 500), and the XL platinum La Demoiselle (30).
Grey alligator (Le Bresil, 14 Bis), green alligator (La Baladeuse); La Demoiselle comes with a Panama-weave fabric strap and a brown alligator strap.
A re-issue with faceted crystal and Breguet-style hands, 100 pieces in yellow gold and one in platinum.
90 platinum pieces with a salmon dial and Breguet-style hands, 36 by 27 mm, powered by a hand-wound Frederic Piguet caliber.
Platinum or yellow gold, about 24.8 by 34.8 mm, with movements generally supplied by EWC (Jaeger-LeCoultre).
Light brown or black pigskin strap with a gold folding buckle.
Cartier Santos-Dumont references in our database. Each card says where its width comes from: listed by the maker (linked to the maker's page in the details), two independent sources agree, or listed in our database and not yet verified by us.
Santos-Dumont Mesh Bracelet Large
Lug width: 21 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 43.5 mmYear: 2026Silver dialCase material: Steel
Santos Dumont Le "Bresil"
Lug width: 18 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 31.4 mmGrey dial
Santos-Dumont "La Baladeuse"
Lug width: 18 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 31.4 mmNatural/Cream dial
Santos-Dumont Extra-Large Steel Manual
Lug width: 19 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 33.9 mm
Santos-Dumont Icy Blue - XL
Lug width: 19 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 33.9 mmBlue/Navy dial
Santos-Dumont Large Rose Gold
Lug width: 18 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 31.4 mm
Santos-Dumont
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Large model, manual mechanical movement, steel, lacquer, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Large model, quartz movement, rose gold, steel, leather
Lug width: 18 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsWhite dial
Santos-Dumont watch - Large model, quartz movement, steel, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Large model, quartz movement, yellow gold, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Large model, quartz movement, yellow gold, steel, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Large model, quartz movement, yellow gold, steel, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Small model, quartz movement, rose gold, steel, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont watch - Small model, quartz movement, steel, leather
Lug width: Proprietary strap system
Source: Not yet verifiedSantos-Dumont
Lug width: 19 mm
Source: Not yet verified Attachment: Spring barsCase size: 33.9 mmYellow dial
No reference matches.
Cartier Santos-Dumont references use 18 mm or 19 mm or 21 mm depending on the reference and case size, so check yours in the list below. The most common is 18 mm (4 of 8 references with a known width). These widths come from our database and are not yet verified.
No. 3 different lug widths appear across the line, often by case size or generation. Check the reference engraved on the case back or between the lugs.
Cartier lists several Santos-Dumont models (small and large quartz, XL hand-wound) on its page of interchangeable watches, which it describes as using the QuickSwitch system. The 2026 mesh bracelet, by contrast, fits with conventional spring bars.
Only since 2026, and only in precious metal: a 15-row mesh bracelet in yellow gold or platinum on the large model. SJX notes the Santos-Dumont had last included a bracelet decades ago; the modern line was otherwise sold on leather straps.
The gap between the two lugs that hold the strap, in millimetres. A new strap must match it exactly: 20 mm lugs take a 20 mm strap.
Most watches use spring bars, so any strap of the right width fits. Many smartwatches use their own band system instead, such as Apple Watch bands or Garmin QuickFit.