Actor Leonardo DiCaprio spotted wearing a Cartier

In Adam McKay's 2021 Netflix satire Don't Look Up, production details were carefully chosen to flesh out the characters. For Leonardo DiCaprio's role as Dr. Randall Mindy, a Michigan State astronomer thrust into a media circus, the wardrobe team reached for a Cartier Tank Must in stainless steel — reference WSTA0040. It is a choice that reads as entirely plausible: a sober, intellectual timepiece worn without ostentation by a man more comfortable behind a telescope than in front of a camera.

The Cartier Tank Must WSTA0040 belongs to the revived Must de Cartier lineage that Cartier relaunched in 2021, updating a line originally introduced in the 1970s to bring Swiss luxury within broader reach. The case measures 33.7 mm × 25.5 mm in polished stainless steel, sitting flat on the wrist with that signature rectangular profile and blued-steel sword hands. Inside beats Caliber 1847 MC, a quartz movement manufactured by Cartier and named for the year founder Louis-François Cartier established the maison. Battery life runs to approximately two years. The silver-grained dial, Roman numerals, and the distinctive Cartier chemin de fer minute track remain essentially unchanged from Louis Cartier's 1917 template — a design said to have been inspired by the aerial silhouette of a Renault FT tank on the Western Front.

For collectors, the Tank Must WSTA0040 occupies a specific and respected niche. It is not a complication piece and makes no claim to mechanical bravura, but its design integrity is beyond dispute. The 2021 relaunch was well received precisely because Cartier resisted the temptation to inflate the case or over-engineer the aesthetic. In a market crowded with sport watches and inflated steel references, the Tank Must represents a counter-cyclical choice — formal, restrained, historically grounded.

DiCaprio's broader watch taste leans toward understated classics, consistent with someone who has publicly supported environmental causes and tends to avoid conspicuous consumption in personal style. Casting the Tank Must on Dr. Mindy's wrist reinforces the character's credibility as a serious scientist rather than a celebrity, a narrative irony the film exploits to full effect as Mindy gradually succumbs to media fame.

At retail, the Cartier Tank Must WSTA0040 lists at approximately $4,150 to $4,400 USD, depending on market and date of purchase. On the secondary market it trades close to retail, reflecting steady demand and Cartier's disciplined supply. It is one of the few watches at this price point whose value proposition rests almost entirely on design history rather than movement complexity — and the market, evidently, respects that logic.