Patek Philippe & Co.
Patek Philippe is an independent watchmaker from Geneva in Switzerland.
History and Development
The factory was founded in 1839 by a Polish nobleman Antoine Norbert de Patek Graf. From the partnership between Antoine Norbert de Patek and Count Jean -Adrien Philippe the patent for a far-reaching innovation resulted in watchmaking: the winding crown. This mechanism changes the use of the clock in that you did not need an extra key longer to wind the movement or the time to adjust. Today Patek Philippe is one of the few independent watch company owned by the Stern family, the age of which began in 1929 takeover of the company by Jean -Adrien Philippe in 1932. In 1932, the classic wristwatch reference ( Ref ) 96 was introduced, which is produced almost unchanged to this day. Only the size of the housing has been adapted to contemporary tastes. In 1953, Patek Philippe watch the first of the factory with automatic rotor - lift on the market. Since time immemorial, the factory made complicated wristwatches and pocket watches with so-called complications.
In 1989, Patek Philippe presented the 150th anniversary of the most complicated pocket watch in the world, the Caliber 89 with 33 complications and 1728 items. Today, the factory manufactures some of the most expensive watches in the world, such as the Sky Moon Tourbillon Ref 5002nd From that featured in the 2001 model year produced only two copies and sold at a price of just under 700,000 euros. These watches are personally taken by the President of Patek Philippe, Philippe Stern. Since 2009, Thierry Stern leads officially the fourth generation of the Stern family, the affairs of the factory. Patek Philippe is in addition to the complicated watches since 1977, also one of the flattest automatic caliber 240 with only 2.40mm height ago. Herein Patek is only by Jean Lassale by the company Bouchet - Lassale SA (caliber 2000: 2.08 mm) exceeded its patents acquired in 1982 by the Nouvelle Lemania SA and its movements in watches of Piaget and Vacheron Constantin (as a caliber VC1170 ) were. Trademarks of watches is the Calatrava cross, each mapped to the crown and the Geneva Seal as proof of quality. The latter is currently being replaced by its own quality seal.