Of Franco-American background, Jules Glaenzer began his career at Cartier as a salesman in Paris in 1907. In 1908 he left for Siam and became the first Cartier employee to go to China and India in 1908–09. He then followed Pierre Cartier (1878–1964) to New York in 1910, becoming the leading salesman at the Fifth Avenue boutique. As a member of New York society, he rubbed elbows with the big names on Broadway and in Hollywood. Named vice president of Cartier New York in 1927, he became chairman of the board in 1966 before retiring in New York in 1966.
Cartier Paris and the voyage to Siam
Jules Glaenzer, whose father was Alsatian and whose mother was American, began his Cartier career in Paris in 1907 alongside Louis Cartier (1875–1942). Starting out as a salesman in the Rue de la Paix premises, in 1908 he was sent to Bangkok, Siam (modern Thailand). The first goal of his trip was to meet King Chulalongkorn (1853–1910), who was then celebrating his jubilee—a unique event at which it was important that Cartier’s interests be represented. Glaenzer then traveled for another seven months, visiting Colombo, Singapore, Saigon, Canton, Hong Kong and Shanghai as well as the Indian cities of Bombay, Agra, and Calcutta. He was thus the first Cartier representative to travel to China and India, as early as 1908–09. Cartier archives still carefully preserve his travel log in which he noted daily developments on his journey.
Cartier New York
In 1910, Glaenzer decided to join Pierre Cartier (1878–1964) in New York, where the American branch had opened just a year earlier. As a peerless negotiator and talented salesman, Glaenzer won the trust of a demanding New York clientele that appreciated his advice and his frankness. As Pierre Cartier’s right-hand man, Glaenzer was involved in most of the major transactions that marked the early decades of the U.S. branch, including the famous sale of the Hope diamond to Evalyn Walsh McLean in 1911. Closely connected to cultural circles on Broadway and in Hollywood his friends included George Gershwin, Florenz Ziegfeld, Charlie Chapin and Douglas Fairbanks. In 1931 Pierre Cartier sent Glaenzer to the Pacific Isles for three months so that he could establish links with pearl divers there, just as Jacques Cartier (1884–1941) himself had done in Bahrain in 1912.
A key figure in the American subsidiary, he became vice president of Cartier New York in 1927 and was named chairman of the board in 1963. After nearly sixty years of loyal service Glaenzer retired in New York in 1966.