Patek Philippe
Haute Horlogerie perfected since 1839
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The evolution of a traditional manufacture: the unparalleled history of Patek Philippe
Tradition, independence, luxury, superior quality, craftsmanship and perfection: these are all weighty terms that can be associated effortlessly with the Patek Philippe name. The Geneva manufacture is regarded as one of the most influential forces in the world of watches and creates timepieces that are to be understood as an expression of pure horological artistry. With its refined products the company operates clearly at the upper end of the price scale and offers financially well-placed watch collectors the opportunity to perfect their collection in true style with any number of exceptional watches. So let us be clear: Patek Philippe is nothing for the "modest purse", but precisely the right thing for all those who wish to hold a flawless piece of the very highest craftsmanship in their own hands and are prepared to pay the corresponding prices.
The origins of Patek Philippe
The starting signal for the Patek Philippe success story came in 1839. In that year the Polish-born Antoni Patek founded a small watch manufacture named Patek, Czapek & Co. together with the Czech watchmaker François Czapek. Yet the duo's time in business together was limited: in 1844, at an industrial exhibition in France, in Paris to be precise, Patek met the Frenchman Jean Adrien Philippe, who was receiving an award there for his keyless winding and hand-setting system for pocket watches. Today we know this system as the winding crown, which has long since become established and is found on virtually every watch - whether on the wrist or for the pocket. Antoni Patek was immediately taken with Philippe's invention and was fascinated by his skill and his spirit of innovation. The acquaintance swiftly grew into a business relationship: in 1845 Jean Adrien Philippe took François Czapek's place and became the company's technical director. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
Inventions: Patek Philippe extends the limits of what is possible in watchmaking
Over the many years and decades of its existence to date, Patek Philippe has filed more than 80 patents. A high figure that illustrates the central role the spirit of invention played, and still plays, within this successful company. A fact which indicates that the company has never lost touch with its roots. After all, the collaboration between founder Patek and Jean Adrien Philippe was based, in essence, on an innovative idea that one of them had and whose brilliance the other recognised. We would not wish, therefore, to pass up the chance to recall, very briefly, some of the most important and most impressive innovations from the house of Patek Philippe. In 1881, at a time when the Geneva manufacture had not yet reached the peak of its success but had already earned a very good reputation within the watch industry, Patek Philippe filed a patent for a precision regulating device. A solid achievement which demonstrated that the death of founder Patek had by no means brought the company to a standstill where inventiveness was concerned. In 1889 came the patenting of a perpetual calendar mechanism for pocket watches, which dispelled every last doubt about the ability of the watchmakers behind Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe made a similarly strong impression in 1902 with the production of the world's first double chronograph. Once the wristwatch was on the rise and was increasingly holding its own against the previously favoured pocket watch, an unusual thought was pursued at Patek Philippe: why should ladies' watches not be just as complicated as a watch for a gentleman? Until then, models for ladies had been more of an accessory for the eye and were designed to be technically less elaborate. That changed in 1916 with the release of the Patek Philippe wristwatch bearing the reference number 174 603, a watch for women that was anything but sparing with complications and was fitted with a five-minute repeater. With it, watches for ladies became technical marvels too. What had already been realised in pocket watches, Patek Philippe also implemented in wristwatches in 1923: the manufacture brought out its first watches for the wrist with a split-seconds chronograph, which at the time carried the reference 124 824. Just two years later Patek Philippe developed a wristwatch with a perpetual calendar, which was produced in series from 1941. At the end of the 1940s the firm then applied for the patent for the Gyromax balance, which promised to optimise the rate accuracy of its timepieces. A further achievement that is still found in Patek Philippe watches today. With these - and numerous further - novel ideas and brilliant inventions, the Patek Philippe company has shaped the world of watches and succeeds time and again in shifting the boundaries of what was considered sensible and possible in the watchmaker's art.
Patek Philippe today: family-run in the fourth generation
After Jean Adrien Philippe too had died in 1894, Patek Philippe became a public limited company in 1901 and was finally bought in 1932, in the wake of the Great Depression, by the brothers Charles and Jean Stern. The beginning of an entirely new chapter in the existence of this successful watch house. Today Patek Philippe is still in the hands of the Stern family, now in the fourth generation, and continues to set great store by independence - a genuine exception in the modern watch industry. The Stern brothers laid the foundation for remaining independent in the long term partly through the early development of their own movement blanks. To this day every Patek Philippe model is produced, finished and assembled under the brand's own roof. At present Philippe and Thierry Stern - father and son - hold the leadership of the company and continue what three Stern generations at the head of Patek Philippe have done before them: they preserve the tradition of the almost 200-year-old manufacture without losing touch with the developments of our modern age.
A brand of superlatives: magnificent complications and colossal record sums at Patek Philippe
A conversation about watches with outstanding complications is scarcely possible without mentioning the name Patek Philippe. For the production of extremely elaborate, complication-rich models is likewise a long-standing tradition of the manufacture. In 1933, after six years of painstaking work, the company created a pocket watch for the banker and collector Henry Graves which consisted of more than 900 individual parts and carried a total of 24 complications. This is the Graves Supercomplication, a unique piece in 18-carat gold which changed hands in 2014 for the incredible price of 23 million euros. The Supercomplication had to relinquish the title of the most complicated watch in 1989, however, to a Patek Philippe timepiece released to mark the manufacture's 150th anniversary. The Calibre 89 outdid the Henry Graves special commission with a full 33 complications and more than 1,700 component parts. Just in time for the firm's 175th anniversary, the Grandmaster Chime reference 5175 saw the light of day as part of a strictly limited collection. The wristwatch, kept in a classical style, delights with no fewer than 20 complications and offers everything that makes the heart of the technically minded watch connoisseur beat faster, from the annual calendar to the minute repeater and moon phase and on to the second time zone. That makes the Grandmaster Chime the most complicated watch for the wrist ever built in a Patek Philippe movement. In view of these facts it is hardly surprising that a Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 went under the hammer for a proud 28.22 million euros - a price that has been surpassed only a few times to this day.
From hand finishing to marquetry: the highest craftsmanship at Patek Philippe
Watches by Patek Philippe are uniquely finely crafted works of art, finished by hand with accomplished precision and thereby given their final refinement. The artistic decoration of watches is practised behind the walls of the Geneva manufacture with passion and to the point of absolute perfection. In doing so Patek Philippe can call upon gifted experts in various disciplines who command their art with something close to virtuosity. Alongside gem-setters, chainsmiths, guillocheurs, engravers and enamellers, the watchmaker is also one of the few in its industry to employ a marqueteur. Behind this mellifluous term stands a master craftsman who produces detailed inlay work in fine woods.
Prominent wearers and their Patek Philippe watches
The list of prominent figures who like to adorn themselves with Patek Philippe watches is a long one, and it recorded its first entry as early as 1851. In that year the founders of the watch house took part in the first \"Great Exhibition\" in London, where none other than Queen Victoria took notice of their exquisite watches. The British monarch promptly chose two models, one of which she passed on to her husband. Yet it is not only royal but also ecclesiastical heads who appear to have a fondness for Patek Philippe watches more than occasionally. After all, Pope Pius IX and Pope Leo XIII were among the company's customers. Alongside them, more worldly celebrities naturally take pleasure in Patek Philippe models in the most varied of executions. Angelina Jolie, for example, wears a Ref. 7000, Brad Pitt favours the Nautilus, and Walt Disney, Eric Clapton, Pablo Picasso, John Lennon and Paul McCartney have repeatedly been spotted with one or another selected model.
On the Patek Philippe path to success - a chronological overview
- 1902 | Double chronograph
- 1932 | Calatrava, the Patek Philippe classic, quoting the cross of a twelfth-century order of knights that today symbolises the brand
- 1937 | Heure universelle (world time watch with 24 time zones)
- 1940 | Chronograph with Perpetual Calendar
- 1953 | The first Patek Philippe with rotor winding
- 1962 | A world first: perpetual calendar with automatic winding
- 1966 | Golden Ellipse (designed according to the rules of the golden ratio)
- 1976 | Nautilus – from the atelier of the brilliant watch designer Gérald Genta
- 1989 | Anniversary watch Calibre 89 (150 years of Patek Philippe)
- 1989 | Twenty~4 – the ladies' wristwatch par excellence
- 2000 | Star Calibre 2000 (millennium watch)
- 2002 | Sky Moon Tourbillon – the most complicated luxury watch since watches have existed
- 2014 | Anniversary collection 5175-001 Grandmaster Chime in rose gold (the ne plus ultra), a Grande Complication with acoustic date indication and alarm function via the minute repeater
Popular Patek Philippe collections in focus
Authentic designs, the highest quality and prices that are truly substantial: these characteristics are shared by all Patek Philippe watches, irrespective of the individual collection. Nevertheless, each luxury watch collection naturally possesses its own unique character and arouses the interest of watch enthusiasts and collectors with the particular qualities that are its own, as a closer look at the most coveted product lines reveals:
Why it is worth buying Patek Philippe watches for men and women at HORANDO
When you hold a watch by Patek Philippe in your hands – be it a Nautilus, an Aquanaut, a Calatrava or a Grandmaster Chime – the first-class work performed by the manufacture's watchmakers is quite simply astonishing. We at HORANDO feel exactly the same! Each of these watches is not only a masterpiece of precision but also an expression of timeless elegance and enduring value. That is why we wish to help our customers experience the indescribable pleasure of owning a Patek Philippe watch of their own. Alongside our sheer enthusiasm for these luxurious watches from Switzerland, the following arguments speak for relying on HORANDO when buying a watch: with us you benefit from a hand-picked selection of the most coveted models, a transparent process and personal advice. Place your trust in HORANDO and experience the luxury that will accompany you for a lifetime.
Patek Philippe: the masters of complications and their watches
The Geneva manufacture Patek Philippe is known for pushing upwards the limits of what watchmakers can create and for redefining the standard of quality, complexity and precision in the world of watches. From the Nautilus and Aquanaut through the Calatrava to the fascinating Grandes Complications, a great many highly coveted and positively legendary models come from the house of Patek Philippe. In view of its achievements and the multitude of watches with complications that could hardly be imagined more refined, the company, which has now been led by the Stern family for four generations, is one of the most prestigious standard-bearers of Haute Horlogerie worldwide. Patek Philippe stands, quite simply, for masterful models that captivate every knowledgeable watch lover at once.
Patek Philippe Tick Talk Video - Die bedeutendste Uhrenmarke der Welt im Porträt
