Patek Philippe

Mark in Paris
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Difficult to answer and to give a right statistics but I'll try to give an answer.

The service performance is something we look closely at when it is time to ask for one and sometimes, but in a much lesser extent, when we buy a watch.

To begin with, let me say that many of the questions you ask may apply to every brands, even the smallest.


Firstly, I would just start by saying that the significant "wait time" you mention has been experienced by some collectors here and there on the internet but who can really assess its % (0.1%? 5%? 50%?) compared to the number of service provided each year (around 80 000 pieces)? This may just be a very rough and daring estimate.

I'm not trying to defend Patek as there is certainly an improvement margin the brand can take care of.

But I think that summing-up Patek's service performance to this kind of delay only when considering a purchase, based on the population posting on forums/friends is not an accurate measurement either.

The interest in Patek watches is much more than servicing delay incidents and I don't think many people will end in selling their watch or not buying one because the service that will be held in 5 or 10 years may be significant (or not from many other testimonies). And again, you may not be sure that going to another brand will secure that matter either.

If one buyes a watch just because of servicing delays (Patek's service quality is know to be top-notch by the way), then I think he misses something and, hence, there must not be many, imho.


Your second point is the interesting part and Thierry Stern has shown they are aware of the required improvement. They are investing in new facilities and this is a clue to your question "how hard will it be": very expensive (high investments) and time consuming.

It is not "will be" anymore but "they do". That's of course good news for every Patek owners.


Concerning your third point, you know it might be a very difficult question to answer to.
Is it more or less compared to other brands? I don't know but my personal feeling is that Patek owners may prefer the official channel. I would say so for every high-end brand, especially when the watches are expensive.

It is the same issue concerning cars: official network or the garage down the road? People do what they want.

If they know a proven very good watchmaker, able to obtain all the genuine parts, knowing to service all kind of brands or complications, without closing the case letting dust inside, able to polish the watch without ruining the edges... then they may take the plundge at their own risk.

But a huge majority (I guess) will go for the secured choice.

It is not just a question of time, even if I completly understand we can be impatient to get our beloved watch back on our wrist.


And finally the fourth question: I think that no reliable answer is possible. I would maybe add that if they could make a lot of money in servicing, every brands would have a 1 month delay for the task. Which they don't.


I hope this helps and that I was able to bring you some food for thoughts. This issue is a tricky one as it sets off an emotive reaction when faced with.

However, I don't pretend to be right, but I tried to explain that this is far from being that easy to "read" and to assess.

Thanks for bringing these points out

Cheers, Mark



This message has been edited by Mark in Paris on 2015-04-16 12:51:12

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