Cartier · Tank Francaise
Cartier Tank Francaise WSTA0129: specifications and checks
Twenty-five point seven by twenty-one point two millimetres. Small enough that the dimensions are the whole description, and a quartz movement Cartier does not number.
Reference WSTA0129 · specifications read from the manufacturer on 2026-09-23 · listed as current
Specifications
As published by Cartier. A field the manufacturer does not state is left out rather than filled in.
- Case
- Steel case, small model, case dimensions 25.7 mm x 21.2 mm
- Thickness
- 6.8 mm
- Water resistance
- Water-resistant up to 3 bar (approx. 30 meters/100 feet)
- Crystal
- Sapphire crystal
- Dial
- Silvered sunray, with blued-steel sword-shaped hands
- Crown
- Faceted crown in steel decorated with a synthetic cabochon-shaped spinel
- Bracelet
- Steel bracelet
Movement
- Type
- Quartz movement
- Notes
- Cartier names no calibre for this reference and publishes no battery life or accuracy figure.
What to check before you buy
- Give both case dimensions in the listing. At 25.7 by 21.2 millimetres a single figure will mislead every buyer who reads it, and there is no diameter to quote in any case.
- Watch the seconds display to confirm the movement is quartz as specified, since the Tank Francaise is also made in mechanical versions.
- Check the integrated steel bracelet where it meets the case for stretch and for play at the join, because on a case this small any gap is immediately visible.
- Inspect the cabochon spinel in the faceted crown for chips, and confirm the crown still pulls and pushes cleanly at this size.
- Read the rating as 3 bar and describe it in words. A small steel watch on a steel bracelet reads as an everyday piece and this one is not a swimming watch.
The dimensions are the description
25.7 mm x 21.2 mm, 6.8 mm thick.
Nothing else on this site is built to those proportions: the smallest round case here, a 30.3 mm Seiko, is wider than this Tank is long. On a watch this size the numbers are not a supporting detail — they are the whole description. Anyone reading a single figure will get it wrong, and anyone reading none will be surprised by the parcel.
Quote both, always, and quote the thickness too. Six point eight millimetres on a case this small is what makes it sit flat rather than perch.
There is no diameter to give. A Tank is rectangular, which is why this reference appears on no case-diameter list here.
Confirm the movement rather than assuming it
Cartier specifies this reference as a quartz movement, with no calibre number, no battery life and no accuracy figure.
The Tank Française is produced in mechanical versions too, so quartz is a property of this reference rather than of the model line. Confirm it on the watch in front of you — a quartz seconds display steps, and where there is no seconds hand, the setting behaviour and the back will tell you.
Then describe it exactly as Cartier does. "Quartz movement" is the complete published specification. Attaching a battery interval or an accuracy figure to it means importing a number the maker never stated.
Small cases magnify bracelet faults
The bracelet is specified simply as steel, and on the Tank Française it runs into the case rather than hanging from conventional lugs.
At this size, tolerances that would pass unnoticed on a 40 mm sports watch are obvious. A slight gap where the bracelet meets the case, a link that sits fractionally proud, a stretched section that lets the case tilt — all of it is visible in the hand and in any decent photograph.
So check the join under magnification on both sides, hold the bracelet horizontally and watch for droop, and work the clasp several times. Cartier does not publish a clasp type for this reference, so describe whatever the watch carries as your own observation.
A faceted crown, and a stone in it
The crown is faceted steel, decorated with a synthetic cabochon-shaped spinel — smaller than the crowns on the Santos references and harder to grip because of it.
Two checks. The stone: chips along its edge, and whether it is firmly seated. The action: at this scale a crown that has become stiff or gritty is disproportionately annoying to use, and it is the part an owner interacts with most.
The dial is silvered sunray with blued-steel sword-shaped hands. Blued steel records handling and heat plainly and cannot be touched up, so give the hands a loupe.
Water resistance is 3 bar (approx. 30 meters/100 feet) — rain and hand washing. Put it in words, because a small steel watch on a steel bracelet reads as something you never take off.
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Sources
Not affiliated with Cartier. Specifications are read from the manufacturer's own published documentation on the date shown and may change; the manufacturer's current documentation governs.