As the brand lands on MR PORTER, we look back at how famous faces styled the iconic timepieces.

To call the Cartier Tank timeless feels inaccurate. It is a watch, after all, but it has remained at the zenith of the fine-watch market for a century, and nothing else really covers it. Created by Mr Louis Cartier in 1917, it was inspired by the Renault tanks that were in service on the Western Front at the time, and has established itself over the past 100 years as a marker of sophistication and prestige that elevates a man’s outfit. On Wednesday, the brand – with two Tank designs – lands on MR PORTER. To celebrate that fact, we’re showcasing some of the gentlemen who wore the Tank best in the 20th century, so we can garner some tips on how we might wear it today.

Washington DC-born pianist and composer Mr Duke Ellington shows exactly how to wear a Tank with sophistication, posing here just a decade after the thing was invented. Resplendent double-breasted suit? Check. Well-manicured moustache? Check. Perfectly executed tie dimple? Yep. We’d offer some advice on how to copy this look, but it’s probably not possible.

If you need a lesson on dressing down a Cartier watch, Italian-French actor Mr Yves Montand might provide some pointers. Proving that the French watch brand is not all about haute sophistication, Mr Montand pairs his Tank with a leather bomber jacket and rolled-up jeans. So insouciant is he, he’s not even worried about getting sand in the mechanism.

Pictured in the early 1930s on the set of romantic drama Red Dust, Mr Clarke Gable and co-star Ms Jean Harlow inject the Cartier Tank with some Hollywood cool, while proving that product placement is not a new phenomenon. Mr Gable also shows us how to roll up our shirt sleeves like a real man.

If Mr Gable cannot convince you that wearing a Cartier is cool, then Mr Warren Beatty certainly will. Here, enjoying some downtime on the set of Shampoo (1975), he shows us how to wear a sophisticated timepiece with masculine effortlessness. We’re not sure we could pull off the Cuban cigar, but we can definitely manage the denim shirt and some slacks.

In a moment of celluloid camaraderie, the rakish actor Mr Alain Delon and the screenwriter Mr Jean-Paul Melville proudly compare their Cartier Tanks on the set of French heist film Un Flic in 1972, after discovering they both shared a penchant for the style.

The men featured in this story are not associated with and do not endorse MR PORTER or the products shown