History of the Cartier Santos: As the story goes, in 1904, Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont complained to friend Louis Cartier about the unreliability and impracticality of using a pocket watch while flying. Cartier designed a flat wristwatch with a square bezel and gave it to Santos, and the watch eventually caught on with other customers. Thus, the first mass-produced men’s wristwatch (and first pilot’s watch; take that IWC!) was born. While there’s debate about the first humans to take flight — Santos-Dumont or the Wright brothers — there is no debate about the first men’s wristwatch. What also can’t be debated is that Santos-Dumont became the first person to be filmed in an airplane flight in November 1906 when he took flight for 21.5 seconds, with a Cartier watch on his wrist.