Patek Philippe & Co. is to watches what Rolls Royce is to cars synonymous with the best. This prestigious Swiss watchmaking firm is arguably the most famous manufacturer of timepieces worldwide. To own a Patek Philippe watch remains a symbol of wealth and importance: kings and queens were their clients, while other watchmakers frantically copied them, imitation being the highest form of flattery, and moreover a means to a more lucrative sale with the help of the famous Patek Philippe signature. The Patek Philippe legend continues to grow and fascinate. The soaring prices achieved by Patek

The Company known today as Patek Philippe was founded in Geneva in 1839, by an exiled Polish Nobleman. Count Antoine Norbert de Patek and his compatriot Francois Czapek. The earliest watches were signed Patek, Czapek & co. until 1845 when Czapek left the partnership. Several years later the company was joined by French watchmaker , Jean Adrien Philippe, who later became the inventor of their famous stem-winding and hand setting mechanism, a modern and reliable concept. From May 1845 to January 1851 the firm was known as Patek & Co; Philippe lent his name to the company in 1851 when he became a full partner. Among the reasons for their initial success was the high standard of watch making and practicality of Philippe's new stem-winding system. In the early years of partnership. Queen Victoria of England herself was already a client. From the middle of the 19th century, Patek Philippe assumed a leading role in the Swiss watch making industry by raising the standards of workmanship and timekeeping through the introduction of technical improvements (the free mainspring, the sweep seconds hand), in addition to implementing improvements to regulators, chronographs, and perpetual calendar mechanism.

As early as 1867 the Paris Exhibition, Patek Philippe displayed watches featuring functions that were to become the standard for complicated watches at the beginning of the 20th century; namely a perpetual calendar, a repeater, and a chronograph with split-seconds. The two most complicated watches of all time were made by Patek Philippe. The first, made for Henry Graves Jr. New York, was completed at the beginning of the century, and the second, the Caliber 89, the world's most complicated watch, completed in 1989 (hence the name) to mark the firm's 150th anniversary. In 1932, Patek Philippe changed hands, and its new owners became Charles and Jean Stern. Toady the third generation of this family sill owns and manages the company. Shortly after world war II, Patek Philippe established an electronic division, and in the 1950's the company pioneered quartz technology, filling several patents and winning multiple awards. Today, Patek Philippe SA, Geneva, is still a family company, owned jointly by its president, Mr. Henri Stern, and his son and Vice President, Mr. Philippe Stern. The firm has traditionally made complete timepieces, watches and clocks, employing craftsmen who are master-watchmakers capable of designing and finishing the most complicated watch movements. Other specialists such as goldsmiths, chain smiths, enamellers, jewelers, and engravers complete the firm's manufacturing capabilities. Although Patek Philippe is rightly famous of the leading manufacture of mechanical horology, the firm is also the forefront of the industry as producers of industrial and electronic timekeepers, with its highly accurate master-clocks installed in power stations, hospitals, airports, and other public buildings and factories. The firm clientele has included many of the famous figures across history, including royalty such as Queen Victoria, as well as distinguished scientists, artists, authors and musicians, including Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Charlotte Bronte and Tchaikovsky. Today, clearly most of the firm's production consists of wristwatches, but Patek Philippe retains the ability to produce pocket watches, and clocks to order, from highly complicated movements to those decorated with enameled miniature paintings and engravings. The company continues to patent new inventions and improvements in horology and plays an important role in maintaining the quality , prestige and reputation of the Swiss watch making.

Chronolgy

1839: On May 1, Antoine Norbert de Patek and Francois Czapek founded the firm Patek, Czapek & Co. in Geneva, with head offices located at 29 Quai des Bergues.

1842: Jean Adrien Philippe made the first watch which could be wound and set by means of crown.

1843: On May 29, Antoine Norbert de Patek obtains Swiss Citizenship.

1844: Antoine Norbert de Patek meets Jean Adrien Phillipe at the universal Exhibition in Paris.

1844: Jean Adrien Philippe is awarded the gold medal at the Universal Exhibition in Paris for his revolutionary system of keyless winding.

1845: On April 22, Philippe is accorded Patent no:1317 for his first system of winding by means of the crown.

1845: On May 1st, Antoine Norbert de Patek with his partners Jean Adrien Phiippe and Vincent Gostkowski found in Geneva the firm Patek Philippe & Co, located at 15 quai des Bergues.

1845: On May 17, The firm Patek, Czapek & Co changes name, officially adopting the name Patek & Co.

1851: On January 1, the same partners, establish a new company with the name Patek Philippe &Co.

1854: Tiffany & Co., New York, becomes an official customer of Patek Philippe & Co, in the US.

1860: On October 4, Adrien Philippe is granted a patent of his fifth system of winding by means of the crown, Patent no.46951.

1861: On September 27, Adrien Philippe further develops patent.

1862: On May 23, a hunting case pocket watch is put on sale; it is the 18k gold, no.19850, montre a tact, quarter hour and hour repeating; 20''' movement of gilt brass, 19 jewels, lever escapement, bimetallic balance, flat hairspring.

1863: On June 16, Adrien Philippe is accorded Patent No.58941, for the slipping mainspring. this invention allows simultaneous winding of 2 or more mainspring barrels, a technique which is the foundation for all further development of selwinding systems in wristwatches. This "slipping" spring makes the mainspring slide a few degree towards the inside of the barrel while staying fully wound. The end of the spring passes from one groove to another inside the barrel, stopping each time, thus keeping the spring under constant tension.

1863: Adrien Philippe writes: Les Montres sans clef, a work on pocket watches wound by means of a crown in the pendant. This work was published in both Geneva and Paris.

1865: Sale of an 18k gold astronomical pocket watch, No.24919, with a double dial, one for a perpetual calendar and thermometer, the other for a solar dial with compass and equation of time. A second, similar, watch is sold in 1868.

1868: Creation of a watch mounted on a gilt bracelet with baguette movement, key winding. Enamel dial.

1876: On January 21, Vincent Gotkowski retires from the firm Patek Philippe

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