"You merely look after it for the next generation."
This was during a training session with representatives from other countries at Nestlé's headquarters in the small town of Vevey, about an hour's train ride from Geneva, Switzerland, in 2013. Despite it being May, the Alps across Lake Geneva were still covered in white snow. As I was eagerly storing this picturesque scene in my mind's eye, a voice broke the peaceful atmosphere.
"It's already 8:45. Aren't we going to be late for the 9 o'clock meeting?"
Her words made all of us first-time visitors to the Swiss headquarters tense up. That's when Vinay from India, who had been observing the situation with a relaxed expression, spoke in a calm tone.
"You know what? The Swiss are obsessed with punctuality beyond your imagination. Looking at my watch now, the tram will arrive in exactly 2 minutes."
His smile showed such strong confidence that it was hard to dismiss his words. Amazingly, the tram did arrive exactly 2 minutes later. This is my vivid memory of the Swiss obsession and philosophy about time.
This Swiss fixation on time naturally led to their expertise in watchmaking. Perhaps it's no coincidence that many watch brands, especially the world's top three luxury watchmakers - Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet - all have their roots in Switzerland. This national characteristic may have given birth to these Swiss watch brands. Among them, I'd like to introduce Patek Philippe, which boasts the highest value in the world among the watch brands born from this obsessive attention to time.
Polish War Refugee Falls in Love with Watchmaking
In 1812, Antoni Patek was born into a noble family in Poland. During his youth, Poland was in a chaotic situation under Russian rule. At the age of 16, he joined the Polish army that launched an armed rebellion against the Russian Empire's rule and participated in the November Uprising of 1830. The young man not only participated but also received the highest honor from his homeland.
However, the following year, the Polish army was defeated by the Russian garrison, and Patek and his comrades were forced to migrate to Western Europe. Patek settled in Paris, but due to Russian pressure on the French government, immigrants like Patek had to pack up again. Patek moved to Geneva, Switzerland, a decision that would change not only his life but also the history of watchmaking, though he couldn't have imagined it at the time.
After settling in Geneva, he was amazed by the watchmaking artisans he saw. Then he met François Czapek, a Polish watchmaker of Bohemian origin. Impressed by Czapek's watchmaking skills, Patek made a proposal.
"Czapek, how about we try to make the best watches in Geneva together?"
In May 1839, the two with a common interest in watches started Patek, Czapek & Cie. in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Meeting of Patek and Philippe
Patek, Czapek & Cie. attracted a lot of attention from the start. However, as the business thrived, differences of opinion between the two widened, and when their six-year contract ended in April 1845, they went their separate ways. Although the skilled watchmaker Czapek had left, Patek couldn't shake off his passion for watches. That's when he remembered Jean Adrien Philippe, another watchmaker he had met at the Industrial Expo in Paris a year earlier.
Philippe had won a gold medal at the Paris Industrial Expo for his innovative keyless winding mechanism, which allowed pocket watches to be wound without a key by using a crown. Until the mid-19th century, winding the mainspring of a pocket watch required inserting and turning a dedicated key. Patek made him an offer.
"Philippe, I want to create watches that don't exist in the world with a watchmaker like you who constantly tries new things! Won't you join me?"
Responding to his enthusiastic offer, Philippe immediately left Paris and joined Patek in Geneva. Patek's proactive recruitment of talented individuals with skills he lacked is reminiscent of Steve Jobs recruiting the genius developer Steve Wozniak.
That's how Patek & Cie. was established in May 1845. Wait, something's not right. The brand name we know is 'Patek Philippe', but only 'Patek' is here. In fact, the company operated as Patek & Cie. for the first six years. However, as Philippe was the core technician, he demanded that his name also be included in the company name.
"Patek, no matter how I think about it, my role in the company is quite significant, and I find it hard to understand why my name is not included in the company name. Include my name in the company name right away!"
"Philippe, changing the company name is not such a simple matter. It will be changed soon, so please wait."
Philippe decided to wait for now, but nothing changed as time passed. Then, just before an exhibition in London, Philippe delivered an ultimatum.
"Patek, I can't wait any longer. If the company name isn't changed by the London exhibition, I'm leaving."
Patek could no longer postpone Philippe's request, and in 1851, Philippe's name was finally included in the company name.
At the London exhibition, a female customer purchased a pendant watch from Patek Philippe & Cie. She was none other than Queen Victoria, who led the British Empire at its peak, known as 'the empire on which the sun never sets'. Thus, Patek Philippe established itself as a watch brand that royalty and high nobility desired to own.
Even Patek Philippe Couldn't Avoid Generational Change
In 1875, Patek's anemia was getting worse, and his health was not what it used to be. At the same time, he feared that if he died, the company he had devoted his life to might be in jeopardy. To prepare for any eventuality, three employees, including Singria and Köhl, participated in a capital increase and became co-owners of the company. In 1877, Antoine Norbert de Patek, the founder of Patek Philippe & Cie., passed away at the age of 65. He had a 20-year-old only son, but he wasn't interested in the company. Instead, he gave up his right to run the company in exchange for a lifelong pension. Thanks to this, he received a pension for the next 50 years until he died at the age of 70.
Patek's vacancy was filled by Jean Adrien Philippe's son-in-law, Antoine Benassy-Philippe. Interestingly, to show that his children were the legitimate heirs of Patek Philippe & Cie., Antoine Benassy-Philippe had his six children take their mother's surname instead of his own. Despite these efforts, by the mid-20th century, not a single descendant of the Patek and Philippe families was working at Patek Philippe.
The other founder, Jean Adrien Philippe, also couldn't escape the passage of time. Two years before his death, he passed his position to his youngest son, Joseph Emile Philippe. In the same year, Köhl left the company, and Singria also gave up his shares. Due to the nature of the partnership organization, which could naturally dissolve when the contract period expired, Philippe changed the company to a corporation to avoid following the same path as Patek, Czapek & Cie. After that, the company continued to grow smoothly, releasing new products one after another, but it faced an unexpected crisis.
The Emergence of the Stern Family
When the aftermath of the Great Depression that started in the United States in 1929 spread worldwide, existing customers couldn't fulfill their payment obligations for purchases, and Patek Philippe was severely affected. The management wanted to prevent the situation where the company would be acquired by a competitor and lose its unique brand identity.
It was the Stern brothers, Charles and Jean Stern of the Stern family, who reached out at this time. The Stern family was a trusted company that had been the sole supplier of dials, which can be called the face of the watch, to Patek Philippe for a long time. The Stern family, who had always held the products manufactured by Patek Philippe in high regard, couldn't bear to see a watch brand of the century with a world-renowned reputation disappear. Thus, the Stern family came to own Patek Philippe, now without Patek and Philippe.
Charles and Jean Stern had never disagreed when making watch dials, but they had different opinions on the direction for Patek Philippe. Eventually, Charles Stern became the chairman of the board of Patek Philippe and entrusted the operation of Patek Philippe to Jean Pfister, a respected watchmaker at the time, who was recruited from another watch brand, Tavannes, until his retirement in 1958.
Charles Stern's son, Henri Stern, established the Henri Stern Watch Agency in New York in 1946 and took charge of Patek Philippe's U.S. market distribution. When Jean Pfister retired, he was appointed as the chairman of the board and CEO of Patek Philippe. Charles Stern was interested in unique and rare watches and collected them, and his collection later became the foundation for the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva.
He had a son, Philippe Stern, who had just turned twenty. Philippe Stern spent his childhood in the United States and was very interested in the family business, but he was also interested in IT. He actually tried to pursue a career in the IT industry, but whether it was due to his father's persuasion or not, he started working at the Henri Stern Watch Agency, which his father had established in New York, in his mid-20s.
Three years later, in 1966, he joined the Patek Philippe headquarters in Geneva, but at that time, he didn't have professional knowledge about the watchmaking process. As quartz watches, which operate on batteries instead of spring mechanisms, became mainstream in the market with plummeting prices in the 1970s, Philippe Stern was tasked with a watch-making project for the younger generation like himself.
As a sports enthusiast, he wanted to add a casual touch to the existing elegant Patek Philippe watches. The result was The Nautilus Ref. 3700/1. The slogan at the time was "One of the world's costliest watches is made of steel." Upon its release in 1976, it received a very hot response in the market and is still considered a classic and essential Patek Philippe watch to this day.
The following year, Philippe Stern was appointed CEO of Patek Philippe. Philippe Stern thought that to compete with quartz watches, which were more accurate and cheaper, they needed to introduce more high-end technology while also incorporating artistic value to make watches that collectors would want to own. He recruited engineers to advance Patek Philippe to the next level. He aimed to systematize and standardize the manufacturing process that previously relied on a few artisans. If the same parts could be standardized, productivity could be increased, and customers could use their watches for longer as certain parts could be replaced for repairs. "If handcrafting by artisans is better than machines, we'll choose handcrafting. But if machines can assist the artisans' work, we won't blindly stick to tradition." Moreover, Philippe Stern considered complete independence from external factors as an essential prerequisite for ensuring the quality of the company's products. The manufacturing process was carried out very autonomously, with only minimal parts sourced from external partners. In 1993, Henri Stern finally passed the chairmanship to his son, Philippe Stern. The following year, Philippe Stern's son, Thierry Stern, also joined the company, making it the fourth generation to be part of Patek Philippe. Until then, Patek Philippe's workspaces had been scattered around Geneva, but with the establishment of a new factory, the manufacturing process could be carried out in one place. This was in 1996, which marked 20 years since Philippe Stern became the CEO. Meanwhile, the number of employees had grown from 300 to 600.
1996 was memorable not only for the factory establishment but also for another monumental event. Patek Philippe's famous slogan, "You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation," was first introduced to the public. In 2001, Philippe Stern finally opened the Patek Philippe Museum to the public, which had been prepared for a long time since his father's era. Thousands of rare watches that captured the changes of the times, collected over 40 years, were displayed here.
Not stopping there, to ensure that watch innovation continued within Patek Philippe, he established the Patek Philippe Advanced Research department and actively invested in developing Patek Philippe's unique and progressive technologies. In 2005, the first work of Advanced Research, the Annual Calendar 5250, incorporated silicon-based parts, which was considered a very innovative attempt at the time.
This part is lightweight, with a density of only 1/3 that of steel, and has low inertia, resulting in low energy consumption. It's also harder than steel, has excellent wear resistance, is non-magnetic, and insensitive to magnetic fields. Moreover, it's shock-resistant and elastic, allowing for self-recovery even if twisted, making it seem like there couldn't be a better material. Patek Philippe later applied this part to the balance spring in the Annual Calendar 5350, gradually increasing its utilization to improve energy efficiency and extend the overhaul (maintenance) cycle.
Remembering the Past and Looking Forward to the Future
Philippe Stern's son, Thierry Stern, joined the company in 1994 and started learning the basics of watchmaking, gaining experience in all departments of Patek Philippe. He then took charge of the Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg markets before becoming Patek Philippe's creative director, contributing to setting long-term strategies for Patek Philippe. In 2009, Thierry Stern succeeded his father Philippe Stern as the chairman of Patek Philippe.
After that, Patek Philippe embarked on another adventure: independence from the Geneva Seal. The Geneva Seal was established by law in 1886 by the Geneva cantonal government to officially guarantee the quality of watches made by Geneva-based watchmakers. The more fundamental purpose was to prevent the outflow of specialized skills and knowledge of watchmaking as many watchmakers were leaving Geneva at the time. However, Patek Philippe judged that even the Geneva Seal, with its 100-year history, was insufficient to represent Patek Philippe's long tradition and innovative technology. So, Patek Philippe created its own certification. This is considered a quite bold and symbolic measure that defines the Patek Philippe brand.
It's too limiting to define Patek Philippe as just a watch manufacturer given the dazzling technological innovations they've consistently shown. It's hard to imagine what it's like to directly shape the future of a field with such overwhelming technological prowess. Finally, I'd like to conclude this long article with the words left by Thierry Stern:
"A company composed of passionate and good people cannot easily collapse. Patek Philippe is an endless story of creation and innovation. I cannot imagine a day when ideas for better watches will be exhausted. Watch designs will become more intricate and complex, but technological advancements will make our imagination a reality. Patek Philippe will continue to move towards the future through endless creation and innovation."
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