Patek Philippe was formed after two men, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe, joined forces to merge their two businesses in 1851. Patek, a Polish immigrant living in Geneva, started out making pocket watches with a native friend in 1839 before parting company and joining with French watchmaker Philippe, who had already invented the keyless winding mechanism by that point.
Since they made their first wrist watch in 1868 Patek Philippe have been pioneers in many new horological technologies such as the split seconds hand, a minute repeater, and the perpetual calendar. In particular there was one pocket watch into which they squeezed twenty-four different functions. It was a custom design for Henry Graves Junior, commissioned as part of a friendly game of oneupmanship between Graves and a rival James Ward Packard. In 1927 Packard bought a watch which was at the time the most complicated ever built. 6 years later Graves had the “Supercomplication” designed and built by Patek Philippe to outdo his rival. This model was the only one built so when it went to auction in 1999 it was no surprise to many that it sold for more than eleven million dollars.
Patel Philippe watches have been enjoyed by elite members of society such as Queen Victoria herself, other monarchs, popes and political leaders. They are seen as highly desirable and have been presented as gifts to reward acts of bravery or loyalty. Having said that, Patek Philippe are a brand of exclusivity and this is emphasised when considering that in the entire 150 year history there have only been 600,000 watches produced, which is less than the number produced by Rolex in one year!
没有评论:
发表评论