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.

Brand Name : Patek Philippe

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 watchmaking industry by raising the standards of workmanship and time keeping 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. Today 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 Henry 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, chainsmiths, 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 enamelled 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 watchmaking.

Brand Name : Patek Philippe

Philippe brought stem winding and hand-setting mechanisms to Patek’s high quality watches. The pair was an instant success and they sold their watches to prominent clients including Queen Victoria of England. They earned a reputation of excellence as a result of innovative engineering advances including enhanced regulators and chronographs, and a perpetual calendar mechanism.

Thus far, Patek Philippe can claim two world-renowned accomplishments. The first was a watch made exclusively for Henry Graves Jr., a New York financier. The watch took three years to design and five years to produce. Graves and long-time competitor James Ward Park commissioned Patek Philippe to create a watch with the most complications. Complications are functions of the watch in addition to hours, seconds and minutes. After Graves died in 1953, the watch was sold to Time Museum. When the museum closed, the watch was auctioned through Sotheby’s and sold to an anonymous collector for $11 million.