In the slow warm Swiss summer, Cartier wrapped up its announcement of their latest concept watch called the ID Two (ID2). It is a follow-up to the ID One u boat replica uk from a few years ago and while something totally different, is a serious step forward in the progress the ID One attempted to make (the futurization of the mechanical watch). There are a few ways of looking at the ID Two. You could look at it as a gear-head watch lover and be in awe, you could look at it as a luxury marketer and scratch your head, or you could look at it from the perspective of a consumer and think, "now that is pretty cool, I'd buy one for the right price." The ID Two won't be available for any price because Cartier isn't going sell any. In fact it might be worth much more to them as a marquee product and brand defining concept piece. However, the writing between the lines of the elaborate concept announcement and fancy watch presentation are instructions on how to turn the entire luxury watch industry on its head. While there are a lot of novel elements in the ID Two, nothing is inherently brand new. What Cartier did was impressively use some very special materials and ideas together to produce a timepiece of the likes the world has never seen before. The whole mission of the ID Two is to increase the accuracy, reliability, and efficiency of a mechanical watch movement. Insofar that you understand the technical achievements, it does that - with a lot of dazzle to boot. What it also does is further remind us how much in the past your basic mechanical watch is. The ID Two aggressively asserts the notion that "if you want a watch of the future, you need to ditch metal." And that is exactly what the Replica Cartier Ballon ID Two and its thematic brethren are doing. There is metal in the ID Two, but less of it than you might expect. Let's start with the most notable non-metallic component, the case. The ID Two uses the 42mm wide Calibre style case, but one that is made from Ceramyst. That is a sexy sounding name for transparent polycrystalline ceramic. In other words, a very hard, mostly clear ceramic case. I don't know much about this material, but according to Cartier they are the first to have used it for a watch case. Are crystals next? The case has no screws holding it together. In fact, it doesn't really have air in it either. This is the first watch I have heard of that has a vacuum sealed inner chamber. The caseback of the watch is vacuum sucked to the rest of the case - so don't try and pry it off. The 99.5% air-free space in the watch reduces friction caused by air - mostly via the escapement. According to Cartier, the removal of air from the case dramatically improves movement energy efficiency by almost completely removing energy that is lost due to air friction. Pretty cool. Though the complications mount when you think about the implications. Those being little things like how to seal the case, how to adjust the movement, and how an air-free space effects the movement. In short, Replica Cartier Tank had to patent a few things, remove all lubrication from the movement, and use some fancy new materials that are almost frictionless and don't need oil. Things more advanced than standard silicon.