Legendary Watch Brands: Patek Philippe

Patek Philippe Chronograph 5170

Patek Philippe are world renowned for making some of the finest and most complicated timepieces and if you’ve read one of the earlier posts, on Vacheron Constantin, then you’ll know that Patek Philippe is amongst the three watch brands that are considered the “Holy Trinity” of Haute Horlogerie. Founded on the 1^st of May 1839, by Antoine Norbert de Patek along with an ambitious watchmaker, Francois Czapek. This day in History would lay the foundation of the legendary watch brand and would mark the start of Patek’s dream to start his own watch factory, Patek, Czapek & Co.

Patek Philippe Pocket watch, Image: Auctionata

Patek located the manufacture in Geneva on the Quai des Bergues and with the help of several employees, assembled approximately 200 superlative pocket watches per year. In 1844 during an exhibition in Paris, the young watch company displayed its products. It was here that Antoine Patek would hear about the ingenious design for a pocket watch that could be wound without the use of a key and therefore misplaced or lost keys would no longer be a concern. The man who invented this device, called a crown, was none other than Jean Adrien Philippe. Patek was so fascinated he swiftly offered the French watchmaker a partnership that would begin in 1845. Unfortunately, this would bring an end to the partnership with Czapek and on the 1st of January 1851, the watch company would be known to the world as Patek, Philippe & Co.

In 1863 Jean Adrien Philippe’s fundamental work on the keyless pocket watches was made public in Geneva and Paris. However by 1894 both Antoine Norbert de Patek and Jean Adrien Philippe had both passed away and in 1901 Patek, Philippe & Co. became a joint-stock company incorporated with a capital of 1.6 million Swiss francs. Its full name would be Ancienne Manufacture d’Horlogerie Patek Philippe & Co. SA.

Patek Philippe Perpetual Calendar Chronograph Ref 2499

Due to the world financial crisis in 1929 and the collapse of high-end quality watch sales in the U.S. the company had to find a financially strong buyer for a majority of its shares. One of the first companies to table an offer was Jacques David LeCoultre, a watch movement, component manufacturer and supplier from Le Sentier in the Vallee deJoux but his offer was dismissed. The offer taken up instead, was from brothers Charles and Jean Stern, owners of the famed watch dial factory “Fabrique de Cadrans Stern Frères”.

Patek Philippe Calatrava 5116R

During these turbulent years Patek never ceased making exquisite timepieces and many fine examples were produced, such as: The Henry Graves Super Complication timepiece made in 1933, which was sold just last year for an astounding 23,237,000 Swiss Francs or how about in 1941 when Patek started the serial production of wristwatches that featured a perpetual calendar and chronograph (reference 1518). Or how about the introduction of the world’s first wristwatch, which featured an automatic winding mechanism and perpetual calendar (reference 3448).

While there have been changes at the helm, till this day Patek Philippe & Co. have remained privately owned and are, arguably, still producing some of the most prestigious watches made today. Such as the timepieces in their Grand Complications range; like the perpetual calendar chronograph, which has seen many reference iterations, or the likes of the Sky Moon, or even more recently for Patek Philippe’s 175^th Anniversary, the Grand Master Chime. This supercomplication wristwatch, with a total of 20 complications, is a masterpiece of watchmaking art. Only seven watches will ever be made, six will be sold, while the seventh will be showcased at the Patek Philippe Museum.

And what was true then, is still true today, “You never really own a Patek Philippe, you merely look after it for the next generation.”