Cartier calls the bracelet on this watch interchangeable. That word is in the official specification, and it is worth taking literally: the WSTA0052 was designed from the start to have its bracelet taken off.
Most owners never do. The watch arrives on steel, the steel looks good, and that is where it stays — which means a lot of people are wearing half of what they bought.
This is the large Tank Must in steel: 33.7 × 25.5 mm, 6.6 mm thin, high-autonomy quartz, silvered dial with blued-steel sword hands and the beaded crown with its cabochon spinel. It is the same watch Cartier also sells on leather. Yours simply came with the metal option in the box.
Lug Width: the WSTA0052 takes a 19 mm strap
On the product page, select the 19 mm option.
The large Tank Must case uses a 19 mm strap. Cartier sells the identical case on leather, and the factory strap for it measures 19 mm at the lugs and tapers to 16 mm at the buckle. Independent strap makers list the large Tank at 19 mm, and it is the size we stock for the model.
If you see 16 mm quoted anywhere, that is the buckle end, not the lug width. Order 19 mm.
| Tank Must model | Case | Strap |
|---|---|---|
| Small | 29.5 × 22 mm | 16 mm |
| Large (WSTA0052) | 33.7 × 25.5 mm | 19 mm |
| Extra Large | Larger case | 23 mm |
Getting the bracelet off, and the strap on
The bracelet releases through Cartier's own mechanism at the end link — that is the interchangeable part. Once it is off, you are looking at a conventional pair of 19 mm lugs, and a strap fits on standard spring bars.
A spring bar tool or our installation tool is all you need, and the whole job takes a couple of minutes. Keep the bracelet and its removed links together in the box — you will want both if you ever sell the watch, and a Tank Must missing links is worth noticeably less than a complete one.
Buckle finish: silver. Our Tank straps are ordered with a buckle, and on a steel case anything gold-toned looks like it came off a different watch.
A Tank on leather is not the same watch
This is the part worth understanding before you choose a colour, because the change is bigger than people expect.
On the steel bracelet, the Tank Must reads as a modern watch. The metal is continuous from case to clasp, the whole thing is one bright object, and it sits in the same visual family as a sports watch — casual, contemporary, a little anonymous.
Put the same case on leather and it becomes the watch it descends from: a 1917 rectangular dress watch, with the case framed rather than absorbed, and the proportions of the Tank suddenly obvious because there is nothing metallic distracting from them. It looks older, more considered and considerably more expensive.
Neither is better. But they are genuinely two watches, and you already own the hardware for both.
There is also a practical argument. A polished steel Tank bracelet is flat, wide and highly reflective, which means it collects hairlines faster than any other part of the watch and shows them clearly. Every day the bracelet spends in the box is a day it is not being scratched by desks, doorframes and car keys.
The four best straps for the WSTA0052
1. Brown leather — the biggest change, and the best first strap
Brown Leather Strap for Cartier Tank
If you are buying one strap for a watch that came on metal, buy the one furthest from metal. Brown is warm where steel is cold, matte where the bracelet is bright, and it turns the Tank Must into a classical dress watch in about two minutes. It is also the most flattering option for the silvered dial — the warmth stops all that steel and silver reading flat.
This is the strap that makes owners say the watch looks like a different, more expensive piece. Start here.
2. Black leather — the formal one
Black Leather Strap for Cartier Tank
Black is the sharpest of the four against a silvered dial, and the most conventionally correct. It puts hard contrast under a bright case, which makes the Roman numerals and the blued hands read cleanly, and it is the configuration Cartier photographs the leather version in most often. If the watch needs to work with a suit as well as it currently works with a shirt, this is the answer.
3. Blue leather — the closest to what you already have
Blue Leather Strap for Cartier Tank
The hands are blued steel and the cabochon in the crown is a blue spinel, so blue is already part of the watch. A deep blue strap keeps the cool, modern character the bracelet gives it while still softening the watch and taking the weight down. The best choice if you like how the watch reads on metal and want a leather version of that feeling rather than a break from it.
4. Green leather — the one that makes it yours
Green Leather Strap for Cartier Tank
Green against steel and a silvered dial has become one of the most requested combinations we sell, and on a small rectangular case the colour lands as a detail rather than a statement. The Tank Must is a very widely owned watch — this is the cheapest way to make yours look like a choice rather than a default.
Every colour and width is in the Cartier Tank, Tank Louis, Américaine, Solo and Must strap collection.
Fit, in one line
Order 19 mm with the silver buckle, and fit it with standard spring bars once the bracelet is off.
More Cartier strap guides
- Cartier Tank Must WSTA0041 Strap Guide — the same case, sold on leather
- Cartier Tank Must Blue WSTA0055 Strap Guide
- All Cartier strap guides
You already own the case. This is the cheap half.
Cartier built the WSTA0052 so the bracelet comes off. Adding a strap does not modify the watch, does not affect its value, and takes two minutes — and unlike almost anything else you can buy for a watch, it genuinely changes what you are wearing.
Helvetus straps are cut for the Tank case in every width from 14 mm to 25 mm, slim enough for a 6.6 mm case, and shaped so the leather meets the brancards without the gap a generic strap always leaves.
More than 50,000 customers worldwide, free shipping and free returns, and no import costs on any order, anywhere. Leather straps are covered for one year; our rubber straps carry a lifetime warranty.
