Cartier Adds Jewelry to Annual Emerging Talent Award

Cartier has expanded its long-running talent competition by adding a jewelry category, renaming the program the Cartier Talents of Tomorrow Prize. The initiative, launched in 1995 as the Cartier Watchmaking Prize for Talents of Tomorrow, will now recognize emerging talent in both watchmaking and jewelry.

From this year, three winners will be selected in each discipline based on technical expertise and creative originality. The change doubles the number of annual winners and marks the first major structural update to the competition since its launch.

The theme for the latest edition is “Cartier’s Wild Fauna,” inspired by the animal motifs that have become closely associated with the maison, including panthers, tigers and crocodiles.

Watchmaking candidates are challenged to reinterpret Cartier’s in-house self-winding 1847 MC movement through the theme of wild fauna. Eligible students and apprentices can apply from Switzerland, France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, with the three Nordic countries newly added this year.

The new jewelry category is open to students based in France, Italy or Switzerland who have completed at least two years of jewelry-focused training. Participants must translate the presence of an animal into a brooch, combining technical craftsmanship with creative interpretation.

Applications open Thursday and close on November 30, with the first winners expected to be announced at ceremonies next spring.

The addition of jewelry broadens a competition historically centered on horology and brings Cartier’s celebrated jewelry heritage into the spotlight. It also reinforces the maison’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of craftspeople across its two signature creative disciplines.