It took just 15 minutes, but that was enough to set a new world record for the most expensive timepiece ever – USD24.4million. The piece in question? Patek Philippe’s 1933 Graves Supercomplication, for a long time the most complicated timepiece ever made. Commissioned by the prominent American banker, Henry Graves, the Supercomplication, with its 24 complications that included a different chronological function for each hour of the day and a chart of the night sky over New York City, is a unique work of supreme innovation and unparalleled craftsmanship. More than that, perhaps, is the fact that it was made by a company that truly epitomises all the outstanding virtues of high horology.
2014 was a big year for Patek Philippe. It was exactly 175 years ago that the brand’s founder, Antoni Norbert Patek, started his watch business in Geneva. A Polish immigrant, Patek’s first partner was another migrant, François Czapek from Bohemia. From the beginning, the company of Patek, Czapek & Cie set out to create, in the words of its business motto, ‘the world’s best and most beautiful timepieces’. And one only needs to visit the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva to see how the duo largely succeeded in their aims. In 1845, however, Patek terminated his partnership with Czapek to join French watchmaker, Jean Adrien Philippe. It turned out to be an inspired partnership – Philippe was a gifted craftsman who adopted modern production processes, while Patek was the shrewd businessman who soon made the manufacture’s creations among the world’s most sought-after timepieces. The reconstituted company, which ultimately became Patek Philippe, would soon scale beyond the heights attained by its predecessor.
TIME VAULT
The Patek Philippe Museum sits on the corner where Rue des Vieux-Grenadiers meets Rue du Colonel-Coutau in the heart of Geneva’s Plainpalais district. This is more than a repository of the brand’s history, however; here, you will find the story of time. The museum was set up in 2001, ostensibly to house the remarkable collection of the Stern family. Owners – although Thierry Stern, the brand’s current President, prefers the word ‘custodians’ – of Patek Philippe since 1932, the collection began under the aegis of Henri and expanded by Philippe, the grandfather and father of Thierry, respectively. The museum does not limit itself to the outstanding timepieces created by Patek Philippe and its earlier incarnation. Its more than 2,000 exhibits span the 500-year history of portable mechanical timepieces, superlative examples of Genevois émail (miniature painting on enamel), centuries-old watches made specifically for Imperial China and the Ottomans – reflections of the world’s fascination with time-measuring instruments – and a library of more than 8,000 publications on watches, astronomy and timekeeping. The majority of the timepieces were manufactured in Geneva and, in a way, the museum is also a reflection of the city’s history.
High horology is synonymous with Switzerland and Geneva is its epicentre, thanks to the collusion of geography, politics and religion. The city’s horological history dates back more than 400 years and there are signs of it everywhere – from the L’horloge fleurie, or Flower Clock, on the Jardin Anglais and the Passage Malbuisson clock commemorating L’Escalade (the defeat of an attempted invasion by the Duke of Savoy in 1602), to the watchmakers that line the city’s shopping street of Rue du Rhône. There is also an abundance of horological treasures in the city’s Musée d’Art et d’Histoire on Rue Charles-Galland and the Cité du Temps on the Pont de la Machine. Other are less obvious: the world’s tallest mechanical clock (30.02m), for example, is hidden within the Cornavin Hotel on Boulevard James-Fazy, while one of the city’s landmarks, the Jet d’Eau fountain on Lake Geneva, was originally a safety valve for a hydraulic power network that supplied electricity for the city’s watchmakers. Another, and probably the most important, is the Mur des Réformateurs, the Reformers’ Wall on Promenade des Bastions, a reminder of the movement led by Jean Calvin, which secured Geneva’s watchmaking destiny.
Prior to the Reformation, Geneva – and Switzerland, for that matter – was hardly known for its watchmaking. That truly began in the second half of the 16th century, when Protestant Huguenots began fleeing religious persecution in their native France. French Protestants were inspired by the writings of Calvin and since Geneva was, literally, across the lake from France, the city was a natural destination for these refugees, a number of whom were master watch- and clockmakers. Geneva then was a prosperous city, partly driven by its successful goldsmiths and enamellers. Calvin, however, had enforced a strict ban on ostentatious displays of wealth and these craftsmen combined their decorative expertise with the technical skills of the French refugees to produce outstanding clocks and watches, thus sowing the seeds of an industry that reigns supreme today both in Geneva and Switzerland as a whole.
TIMELY CELEBRATION
Patek Philippe occupies a significant part of Geneva’s horological timeline, one it has graced with exceptional achievements, even in an industry noted for dazzling accomplishments. The company has been part of the city since its earliest incarnation; in fact, it has occupied the same building on Rue du Rhône since 1853. Even after the move of its manufacture to a new complex in Plan-les-Ouates, outside the city, in 1996, Patek Philippe remains bound to its birthplace, with the Sterns taking great pride that it is the last family-owned independent watch manufacture in Geneva. Its successes aside – and they are quite legion – the brand would undoubtedly take greater pride in the part it has played in keeping alive the traditional timepiece-making crafts, many of which are this very city’s artisanal legacy.
It was these skills that Patek Philippe sought to celebrate recently when commemorating its 175th anniversary. In October last year, the brand’s Plan-les-Ouates manufacture was transformed into a homage of its history and skills. The manufacture’s entrance was turned into a grand theatre where a stunning son et lumière show, accompanied by ballet dancers, told the story of Patek Philippe from its earliest days, right up to the present and ended by unveiling its latest masterpiece, the Grandmaster Time. Within the manufacture, champagne and caviar fuelled the participants as they discovered further the intricacies that went into the creation of the Grandmaster Time as well as the other 175th anniversary commemorative pieces. There were detailed explanations and demonstrations of internal mechanisms and movements by the designers and engineers who created them. Meanwhile, in the historic 18th-century Château Blanc, located within the manufacture’s compound ,was an exhibition of some of Patek Philippe’s 175th-anniversary Rare Handcrafts timepieces that testify to the brand’s mastery of artisanal handcrafts like engraving, enamel arts (including miniature painting, cloisonné and champlevé), guilloching, wood marquetry and haute joaillerie. Alongside are the very artisans practising their art, a fitting tribute to Patek Philippe’s commitment to these skills.
COMPLICATION TIME
One of the most fascinating exhibits was a 3D computer-generated film that explored the creation of the Grandmaster Time’s movement, the mechanical manually wound Calibre 300 GS AL, from its conception on paper, taking in every screw, lever and spring, to its entirety. It was an immersive and striking experience, giving you a dazzling and dizzying view of the complexity required to create such a piece.
As a watch, the Grandmaster Time is a superlative piece of work. The numbers associated with it are truly mindboggling – 100,000 hours for development, production and assembly; 1,580 meticulously hand-finished parts, 20 complications, a double-face case with a diameter of 47mm that accommodates four spring barrels, and four patents. The 18K rose gold case is adorned with relief engravings of a special anniversary laurel foliage motif, while its dark brown alligator strap is hand-stitched and patinated. One dial focuses on the time and the sonnerie; the other on the instantaneous perpetual calendar. The Grandmaster Time comes in a chest made of Makassar ebony and 17 other wood species, and decorated with intarsia and gold inlays. (See sidebar for more details on the Grandmaster Time and other 175th anniversary commemorative pieces.)
The entire thing was, according to Thierry Stern, “the result of seven years of hard work by people who are passionate about Patek.†And rightly so, as this masterpiece, priced at CHF2.5million, is limited to just seven pieces (including one for the Patek Philippe Museum). While this ensures its exclusivity, it speaks more of Patek Philippe’s ethos as a company, one that builds on its horological inheritance while being committed to values like tradition, innovation, quality and fine workmanship, rarity, aesthetics, emotion and heritage. It especially prizes its independence, which allows it to follow its own path, control its own destiny while pursuing a long-term vision that gives it total creative freedom to pursue the exceptional. It is this spirit that is the heart of Patek Philippe: a single-minded dedication to creating ‘the world’s best and most beautiful timepieces’.
