When people ask me why it is that Patek Philippe, which already has staggering wait lists for almost all its watches and certainly its much sought-after complication, high-complication, grand-complication and sport models, would spend a staggering sum — easily in the millions — to showcase their history and craft in their Grand Exhibitions, my three-word response is invariably: “Because they can.”
Which is not meant to be so much glib as factual. As a wholly family-owned and -run company, Thierry and Philippe Stern can decide how to deploy their capital. For them, the objective has never been to sell more watches, but to tell the world their story with the greatest authenticity. Because when it comes to high watchmaking, the innovation of game-changing complications and the creation of peerless métiers d’art, there is only one king. And that king is Patek Philippe.
Even industry legend Jean-Claude Biver — a man who has, in some ways, competed against Patek Philippe for over 40 years since he revived Blancpain in 1982 — collects almost exclusively Patek Philippe watches himself. Why? He explains, “Because Patek is the best. It is as simple as that. No brand has brought greater creativity, better quality and more beautiful designs to watchmaking. No one.”
Today, all watch brands are engaged on a single-minded mission to create broader awareness, greater desirability and to reach the next generation of consumers. But each one at the top does it in a different way. Audemars Piguet has decided to engage with popular culture like hip hop and Marvel Comics. Rolex today completely dominates the world of sports, despite it very brilliantly shifting beyond the sports market and into the high-luxury world with its watches.
But no one tells the story of the history of watchmaking better than Patek Philippe. And when you attend the Grand Exhibition in Tokyo’s Sumitomo Sankaku Hiroba as a new watch fan, a young person still in his early formative stage in terms of taste, there is one message you will leave
