Suisse · Fondation 1839
Patek Philippe
In 2019 a steel Grandmaster Chime sold for CHF 31 million, the auction record for a watch.
Texte éditorial en anglais.
Geneva manufacture owned by the Stern family since 1932 and run by Thierry Stern. Known for perpetual calendars, chronographs and minute repeaters, the Calatrava dress watch and the Nautilus and Aquanaut sports lines. One of the most expensive brands at retail and the dominant name at auction, with most of the range in precious metals.
Histoire
Polish émigré Antoni Patek and Czech-born watchmaker Franciszek Czapek founded Patek, Czapek & Cie in Geneva on 1 May 1839, buying movements and having them cased and decorated for wealthy clients. The partnership was dissolved in 1845. Patek then joined forces with French watchmaker Jean Adrien Philippe, whose crown-winding and hand-setting system had won a medal at the 1844 Paris exhibition. The firm became Patek & Cie in May 1845 and Patek, Philippe & Cie on 1 January 1851, the year Queen Victoria acquired one of its keyless pendant watches at the Great Exhibition in London.
The company built its name on precision and complications. In 1868 it made a wristwatch for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary, which it records as the first Swiss wristwatch, and in 1889 it patented a perpetual calendar mechanism for pocket watches. It became a joint-stock company in 1901. The Great Depression hit hard, and in 1932 Charles and Jean Stern, whose firm had supplied its dials, took control. The first Calatrava, Ref. 96, appeared that year, and in 1933 the company delivered the Supercomplication ordered by New York banker Henry Graves Jr., with 24 complications.
Under the Sterns, complications moved into regular production. The World Time Ref. 1415 arrived in 1939, built on Louis Cottier's 24-time-zone system, and the Ref. 1518 of 1941 became the first perpetual calendar chronograph made in series; 281 were produced, four of them in steel. In 1976, in the middle of the quartz crisis, the company launched the steel Nautilus Ref. 3700, designed by Gérald Genta. For its 150th anniversary in 1989 it presented Calibre 89, a pocket watch with 33 complications and 1,728 parts, then the most complicated portable timepiece ever made.
In 1996 the manufacture and head office moved to a new complex in Plan-les-Ouates on the edge of Geneva, and the Patek Philippe Museum opened in the city in 2001. In 2009, the year Thierry Stern succeeded his father Philippe as president, the company dropped the Geneva Seal in favour of its own Patek Philippe Seal. Output has been raised slowly and deliberately, from about 40,000 watches in 2010 to roughly 62,000 in 2018, according to the company. The Grandmaster Chime Ref. 5175 of 2014, made for the 175th anniversary, has 20 complications.
Fondateurs
- Antoni Patek
- Co-founder · 1812–1877
- Polish cavalry officer who fought in the November Uprising of 1830–31 and settled in Geneva as a watch merchant. He co-founded Patek, Czapek & Cie in 1839 and later ran the commercial side of Patek Philippe.
- Jean Adrien Philippe
- Co-founder · 1815–1894
- French watchmaker who invented a crown-winding and hand-setting mechanism in 1842 and joined Patek in 1845. A full partner from 1851, he led the technical side and published Les montres sans clef in 1863.
Dates clés
1839
Patek, Czapek & Cie founded in Geneva
Antoni Patek and Franciszek Czapek start their partnership on 1 May 1839, selling pocket watches cased and decorated in Geneva.
1845
Adrien Philippe joins
After the split with Czapek, Patek & Cie is formed with Jean Adrien Philippe, inventor of a keyless winding and setting system.
1851
Renamed Patek, Philippe & Cie
Philippe becomes a full partner on 1 January 1851; Queen Victoria acquires a Patek Philippe keyless watch at the Great Exhibition.
1868
First Swiss wristwatch
The company makes a wristwatch for Countess Koscowicz of Hungary, recorded by Patek Philippe as the first Swiss wristwatch.
1932
Stern family takes over; Calatrava Ref. 96
Dial makers Charles and Jean Stern acquire the company during the Depression; the round Calatrava Ref. 96 is launched.
1933
Henry Graves Supercomplication delivered
The 24-complication pocket watch for banker Henry Graves Jr. sells at Sotheby's Geneva in 2014 for CHF 23.2 million.
1941
Ref. 1518 perpetual calendar chronograph
The first perpetual calendar chronograph made in series; 281 pieces are produced until 1954.
1976
Nautilus Ref. 3700
Gérald Genta's steel sports watch with integrated bracelet is launched during the quartz crisis.
1989
Calibre 89
A 33-complication pocket watch with 1,728 parts marks the 150th anniversary; four examples are made.
2009
Patek Philippe Seal replaces Geneva Seal
The in-house seal requires -3/+2 seconds a day for movements of 20 mm or more; Thierry Stern becomes president.
Trois choses que savent les collectionneurs
Only four steel 1518s
Of the 281 Ref. 1518 perpetual calendar chronographs made from 1941 to 1954, only four are in steel. The first of them sold at Phillips in Geneva in November 2025 for about CHF 14.2 million with fees.
The cross came first
The cross of the Spanish Order of Calatrava became Patek Philippe's registered emblem in 1887, 45 years before the dress watch that now carries its name.
Einstein's pocket watch
Albert Einstein ordered a gold pocket watch from Patek Philippe in 1915, the year he completed the general theory of relativity.
Modèles emblématiques
- Calatrava1932
Round dress watch line that began with Ref. 96 in the year the Sterns took over; still the core of the classic range.
- World Time1939
Ref. 1415 introduced Louis Cottier's 24-time-zone display; later versions include Ref. 2523 and Ref. 5131.
- Perpetual Calendar Chronograph1941
Line started by Ref. 1518 and continued by Refs. 2499, 3970, 5970 and 5270.
- Nautilus1976
Gérald Genta's porthole-inspired steel sports watch, Ref. 3700; the Ref. 5711 of 2006 was discontinued in 2021.
- Aquanaut1997
Sports line with a rounded octagonal case and a composite strap patterned like the dial.
Questions
- Who owns Patek Philippe?
- The Stern family, which bought the company in 1932. Thierry Stern has been president since 2009, the fourth family member to hold the post. Patek Philippe does not belong to any luxury group.
- Where are Patek Philippe watches made?
- Mainly at the manufacture in Plan-les-Ouates on the edge of Geneva, where the company moved in 1996, with further production in the Vallée de Joux.
- How do you pronounce Patek Philippe?
- pa-TEK fee-LEEP. The French pronunciation stresses the last syllable of each name. Patek is a Polish surname, Philippe a French one.
- Does Patek Philippe make its own movements?
- Yes. Patek Philippe designs and makes its movements in-house, including its first in-house chronograph calibre, the CH 29-535 PS of 2009, and it has registered more than 100 patents.