Cartier Caliber 1847 MC

The Cartier caliber 1847 MC is an in-house automatic movement with 23 jewels and a frequency of 28,800 bph. “MC” stands for Maison’s Creation and 1847 being the year the company was founded. This movement was introduced at SIHH 2015 with the release of the Clé de Cartier.

You may notice that this caliber shares similar dimensions to the ETA caliber 2892-A2. It appears that this is largely due to the fact that is was made to replace Cartier calibers that were based on the 2892-2 (such as Cartier 049) as ETA movements became unavailable to non-Swatch Group watch brands.

1847 MC VS 1847-2 MC VS 1847-3 MC:

There is a similar caliber with a -2 designation signed on the rotor, with the main difference being that the 1847 MC has a calendar complication (date) and the 1847-2 MC is a true no-date version.

Another variation known as caliber 1847-3 MC also exists. This version is a 2-hander time-only with no seconds hand or date.

Interestingly, Cartier’s product pages for date and no date versions only mention calibre 1847 MC without mention of the -2 no-date version. This appears to be an all too common example of brands dumbing things down for their customers and keeping it simple for marketing purposes.

The brand’s official movements page only lists and displays the 1847 MC with no mention of the 1847-2 MC or 1847-3 MC.

How to tell which caliber is in your watch?

The easy way is to look at the dial to see the hand stack and date:

• 1847 MC – 3-hander, date
• 1847-2 MC – 3-hander, no-date
• 1847-3 MC – 2-hander, no-date

As for the caliber number itself, it can be found on the rotor.

And below is an example of an 1847-2 MC rotor (source):

Lack of Information:

As mentioned in the section above, Cartier fails to even mention that a no-date caliber 1847-2 MC exists in any copy on their site, but the lack of information doesn’t stop there. Although Cartier is widely respected in the watch community, it should be noted that the brand does not seem to reciprocate that respect.

While locking away technical information is one way to keep outsiders in the dark and have a tight grip on service and repairs, the lack of basic movement specs being provided to consumers spending thousands of dollars on an item, is something to consider when separating yourself from your money. Perhaps, despite their longstanding history and achievements in the watch world, this is what makes a Cartier more of a piece of jewelry and than a true watch enthusiast’s machine.

One shouldn’t have to email a brand to find out things like power reserve or beat rate of a movement in a $7k+ watch.

All that Cartier’s has to say about the 1847 MC:

“The name 1847 MC is a nod to the year the Maison was founded. This mechanical self-winding movement was entirely created and developed by Cartier watchmakers and engineers. Measuring only 3.8 mm thick, it can be used in thin and elegant watches. Thanks to its adjustment system, each movement is individually and meticulously adjusted by a watchmaker to ensure high precision that meets the high standards of Swiss watchmaking. To effectively resist the strong magnetic fields a watch can be exposed to in everyday life and maintain its precision, the escape mechanism has been designed with non-magnetic components. Finally, a shield made of paramagnetic alloy is integrated into the case to ensure proper protection of the movement.” –Source

Power Reserve:

You may find other publications quoting the power reserve of the 1847 MC to be anywhere from 40 hours, to 42 or 48 hours. Adding to the caliber confusion, Cartier does not make a clear effort to disclose the expected runtime of a fully wound watch with this movement on all of the product pages of watches with this caliber. A criticism carried over from the section above, there is no consistency.

Below is a screenshot from the Ronde Solo de Cartier watch product page (as of 11/8/23), powered by an 1847 MC, quoting a power reserve of 40 hours.

And again on the medium sized Santos de Cartier:

But don’t take the brand’s or reviewers’ word for it, do some tests to check your own watch’s PR and report back in the comments below!

So where does the 42 or 48 hours misinformation come from?

It could be that in Cartier’s official technical docs, they list the PR as 42 hours, but that would be conflicting information with the minimal information they provide to customers on the front end. Or, perhaps, it’s just a best guess by members of the watch community since the ETA 2892-A2 has a 42 hr power reserve.

Maybe it comes the Cartier website being difficult to navigate and sometimes non-functional – the movement sections do not appear if cookies are blocked. So it just becomes a trail of copy and paste from the next best source.

Cartier does have a caliber with 48 hours of power reserve: caliber 9624 MC. They actually have this written out on their site on the Pasha de Cartier skeletonized automatic product page here. The 9603 MC in Panthère Jewellery Watches lists 48 hours in the description and 47hrs in the movement section on the same page.

Editor’s Comment: If the manufacturer of a $187,000 USD watch can’t even accurately describe their products, then don’t you dare be hard on a 1-5 crew microbrand start-up lol.

Is is possible that there are different power reserves for different 1847 MC watches?

Unlikely, unless they have made upgrades to the mainspring/barrel for improved efficiency. If that is the case, it’s just more caliber confusion since there is still reference to the 1847 MC having a 40hr power reserve on their site.

Plastic Parts?

You may see alarming comments online discussing plastic parts being used with the Cartier 1847 MC. This is not in reference to plastic parts found inside the movement, but rather some models that were using plastic spacers around the movement. There have been reports of the plastic movement spacer being replaced with metal at no charge upon service at Cartier.

While most watch enthusiasts cringe at the notion of plastic being used anywhere in a luxury timepiece, it’s interesting to note that the examples posted have shown a red plastic spacer, much like what would be found in vintage Cartier watches like this. If you have an example of a modern 1847 MC powered watch with a red plastic spacer, please post it in the comments below…

Watches with this movement:

The calibre 1847 MC (and -2/-3 variants) is currently found in a wide array of Cartier models. Most of which will have a solid caseback. The Pasha de Cartier and Ronde Must de Cartier are some of the few models with an exhibition style caseback:

Replacement Prices:

The Cartier caliber 1847MC is not available for individual purchase, so there is no retail pricing information to provide. Sometimes you can find a movement for parts or repair on eBay. For example, at the time of this post, there is an 1847 MC main plate listed for $295 USD and a rotor for $99.

Video:

Additional Resources:

• Official user guide
• More Cartier calibers