Nonfamily Reunion

Few names glitter so dazzlingly in the jewelry business as Cartier, but for decades relations among independent Cartier houses in Paris, London and New York City have been as flawed as a bargain-basement diamond. Around the turn of the century, rather like a cutter splitting a precious stone, three grandsons of Founder Louis Cartier decided to go their separate ways in the three great capitals of chic, and what they got was an exceedingly lopsided split. Cartier Ltd. in London maintained close ties with Paris' Cartier S.A., which clung to classic haute joaillerie with designs rooted in the 19th century. Cartier Inc. in New York tried to be more responsive to changes in fashion. One resuit: some world-traveling Cartier customers came to regard the New York store as shamefully declasse. Says Socialite Betsy Pickering: "There is no comparison between it and the Paris store. In the past decade it [the New York house] has not been a quality store--one never went there. They opened up the store to too many customers; it became more of a boutique, trying to appeal to the American secretary."

Now the Cartier houses are coming together again, perhaps because none of them are any longer owned by members of the founding family. In 1964 the Paris operation was sold to two Americans living in Britain; they in turn sold out in 1972 for $12.8 million to a syndicate headed by Robert Hocq, a brash French industrialist. In 1974 Hocq organized another group to buy the London house. And in January still another European syndicate purchased the U.S. operation for $9.5 million from Kenton Corp., a holding company that had owned the New York store since 1968. This month the deal was finally sealed when Hocq signed a contract to manage the New York firm.

Paris Philosophy. Hocq insists that the sale to European investors, all of whom have chosen to remain anonymous, does not represent a takeover by the Paris company. But he adds that the new owners agreed to buy the U.S. operation only if Hocq would supervise its management. One immediate change at the New York store was the installation of Ralph Destine, a former managing director of Cartier Ltd. in the Far East, as president. Over the years, says Destine, differences between the Paris and New York stores resulted in "one company looking backward, perhaps too far back, and the other forward, perhaps too far forward." From now on, he says, Cartier New York will be managed "by a Cartier Paris philosophy."

The Paris philosophy, however, has changed under Hocq and his attractive, cigar-smoking daughter Nathalie, 24, who serves as general manager of European operations for high-class jewelry. To reach customers who cannot afford traditional Cartier pieces that retail for $500,000 and up, they have established a lower-priced range of jewelry and set up 33 boutiques--called les musts (Franglais, as in "Dear, you must buy that for me") de Cartier--in cities round the world. Last year the Paris operation doubled its sales, to $50 million.

Privately, Hocq makes no secret of the fact that he aims to improve the New York firm's financial performance--it had sales of only $15 million in 1975--by using the prestigious name of Cartier to merchandise all manner of un-haute products: luggage, stationery, lighters. This he expects to do by opening les musts de Cartier throughout the U.S. in department stores and as independent shops. One gathers that the American secretary is supposed to feel quite at home in them.

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