The small Ballon Bleu in plain steel. The cheapest Ballon Bleu here.

Cartier is the house that made the wristwatch a shape rather than a circle: the Tank of 1917, the Tortue of 1912, the Tonneau of 1906, each a case with Roman numerals, blued sword hands and a cabochon in the crown. Cartier makes them in gold and in steel, in quartz and in mechanical, and on the pre-owned market the gold ones sit where a Rolex Datejust does in price and a step above it in how they read across a table.

The 28mm quartz Ballon Bleu is the way most people first own a Cartier: the round case with the guarded crown, the guilloche dial, the Roman numerals, at the smallest size and the lowest price Cartier makes it. Rebag lists three of them on Amazon; one is graded Good with a cracked dial and the other two Very Good. This page links the Very Good unit with the fuller listing. Light scratches on the crystal are the thing to ask about; on sapphire they do not polish out.

Rebag gives the size as 28mm, the thickness as 9mm, the band width as 14mm, the wrist size as 6.0 inches, steel for case and band, quartz, no accessories, and Very Good with light scratches on the crystal and wear on case and band. The guilloche dial, hands and cabochon are from the photograph. No reference is stated; W69010Z4 is the catalogue match, marked confirm. Water resistance is Cartier’s figure for the model.

Rebag authenticates in-house and is not a Cartier authorised dealer, and Amazon adds its 30-day return window. Ask for the reference and the numbers on the caseback, close-up photographs of the wear, and when it was last serviced. Nothing here was measured on the watch.

This unit is sold by Rebag through Amazon Luxury Stores, authenticated by the seller with Amazon’s 30-day return window on top; it is one piece, and when it sells the listing goes away, so the second button opens the live search for Ballon Bleus.

Steel Cartiers have resold close to what pre-owned buyers paid, sometimes more, sometimes less; that is a pattern, not a promise, and nothing here is investment advice.