Cartier Mystery Clocks

I got to see Cartier and America at the Legion of Honor (again).

The most interesting objects there (in my opinion) were the Cartier "mystery clocks." You cannot tell very well from the picture, but everything around the hands is crystal - invisible crystal. This astounded me when I first saw it. I took a closer look, "Yup; it's clear." I really had no clue how it works. Apparently they had it written somewhere in the exhibition. That surprised me; I thought it was some long-kept secret technology. I guess not. The way it works is that the center part (the rock crystal) is cut in half, and the middle part is taken out, just enough to make room for two discs, about the size of the hands. These discs are what hold the hands. They also connect the hands to the base of the clock (or where ever the clock mechanism is).

Apart from having the "invisible" clock mechanism, these clocks have some other attributes. How about the gold and diamond patterns that form the frame? Do you like a clock worth over $1,000,000? Well, who wouldn't?