Feature: Where Patek Philippe Goes The Extra Mile

Illustrious, prestigious, refined… there’s no end to the glowing adjectives that get dropped into any discussion around Patek Philippe. Worn by everyone from the Shah of Iran to the Dalai Lama, hip-hop aristocracy to Vladimir Putin (who semaphores how rich and powerful he is by wearing an 18-karat yellow gold Perpetual Calendar Moonphase when white-water rafting), Patek Philippe’s place in Horology’s Hall of Fame is safer than a Fort Knox bunker.

Still, despite a history that stretches back to 1839 and a bursting trophy cabinet of superlatives and world-firsts, no watch brand can ever rest on its laurels, not even a revered maison like Patek.

So how does it stay among the rarefied heights of the watch industry? By doing a few things outstandingly well.

It’s Mastered The Most Complicated Watches

Perhaps with the exception of Rolex, a luxury watch brand will never be held in the highest esteem by watch nerds and aficionados if it doesn’t roll up its sleeves, strap on its loupe and develop the trickiest complications in-house.

Patek Philippe has never shied away from making the most complex movements

We’re talking tourbillons, world timer functions, perpetual calendars, chronographs and minute repeaters—skills that sit at the apex of watchmaking artistry.

Patek has produced all of the above, many of them for decades, and often before anyone else. It made the first perpetual calendar wristwatch as far back as 1925, the first serially produced perpetual calendar with chronograph, and the first world timer wristwatch, among many others.

It held the title of ‘world’s most complicated watch’ for over half a century with its outrageous Henry Graves Supercomplication pocket watch, until Vacheron Constantin’s reference 57260 knocked it off its perch in 2015.

Its sublime Grandmaster Chime, released in 2015 to celebrate the brand’s 175th anniversary, remains Patek’s most complicated wristwatch watch ever, boasting 20 complications—including a minute repeater, perpetual calendar and alarm— and is decorated with a meticulously engraved rose gold case. Frankly, if this watch was a building, it would be the Palace of Versailles.

Furthermore, the components of all Patek Philippe watches are subjected to literally hundreds of hours of quality control tests and inspections and tested over and over again once fully assembled. The phrase ‘cutting corners’ is not one you’ll ever find in the Patek Philippe company handbook.

It Created Its Own Quality Seal

The coveted Geneva Seal is a certification reserved for wrist and pocket watch movements made in the City or Canton of Geneva and concerned mainly with the finishing and decoration of watch movements.

A self-winding movement bearing Patek's own quality 'PP' seal

So how come Patek Philippe, a Geneva-based watchmaker, isn’t included in this line-up? Well, it was for 123 years until 2009 when it instead decided to create its own quality mark, the Patek Philippe Seal.

Reportedly, Patek Philippe’s management felt at the time that the Geneva Seal needed updating as it focused too much on decoration and lacked requirements for the actual performance of the movement.

Also, with the likes of Chopard and Cartier using the seal to promote their watches, Patek, a vertically integrated company, felt the need to differentiate itself from these brands and any future fledgling watchmakers that wanted to adopt the seal.

It therefore decided to strike out alone, which of course means Patek watches no longer undergo any independent verification of their quality, but it insists theirs is the ‘most exclusive and stringent in the world’.

That said, the Geneva Seal requirements have since been updated to bring their requirements more in line with Patek’s.

Finishing And Finesse

Cutting-edge technology and hand-finishing, carried out by the dexterous fingers of engravers who have spent years honing their craft, links modern horology to the finest watches of the past—and Patek are among the world masters at this.

Its exquisite engraving work is among the very finest in the industry

But hand-finishing isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about smoothing away any miniscule bumps or burrs on the surface of components left from the machining process that may impede perfect movement. It’s about meticulously honing down the teeth of wheels that move against each other, improving the function of the movement and ultimately prolonging its life.

There’s no exaggeration with Patek’s famous advert that claims you never really own a Patek, you’re just looking after it for future generations.

Yet ‘finishing’ is about adding as much as taking away. Côte de Genève, or Geneva stripes, for example, create contrast and depth but they also trap dust in their grooves, stopping it getting into the more miniscule parts.

The stunning white gold and enamel dial of a 'Volutes and Arabesques' Calatrava

The above processes and more—from pearlage to guilloche work—also transform dull metal into a material of alluring beauty.

So the next time Vladmimir Putin wants to go white-water rafting, he might want to consider all the painstaking work that has gone into making his Patek and strap on a Casio G-Shock instead.

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