Patek Philippe Museum

Patek Philippe

Patek Philippe is a Swiss firm based in Geneva that manufactures luxury watches and has over a century and a half of experience. Its expertise at engineering extremely complex mechanical components have earned it many accolades, and some experts consider the company to be the most prestigious brand of watchmaker in the world. Four leaps in watch technology pioneered by the firm include the perpetual calendar, the split-seconds hand, the chronograph and the minute repeater.

In 1989 it fashioned the hyper-complex Calibre 89, which calculates 39 functions, include the time of sunrise and the date of Easter. Patek Philippe produces its own components in house.

From the start, the company produced watches for royals, including the British Queen consort, the king and queen of Denmark, the kind of Italy and the Sultan of Egypt. Last year Patek Philippe made 50,000 watches.

The most expensive timepiece it ever manufactured was made for banker Henry Graves Junior and after he passed on it was sold by Sotheby’s in 1999 for $11 million, the highest price ever paid for a watch up until that point.

The team of Polish immigrant Antoni Patek and Frenchman Adrien Philippe was formed in 1851. For the last eight decades the firm has been owned by the Stern family. Today Thierry Stern is in charge of the company’s operations.

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