Watch Snob on Patek Philippe Watches

Does Patek Philippe Still Deserve To Be The Top Name In Watchmaking?

Patek Philippe for most of its history has with some considerable justification been considered the most blue-blooded of all the Swiss watch manufacturers. There have to be sure been many other fine watchmakers in Switzerland, and elsewhere, that could be considered candidates for the first name in horology; these range from Patek’s fellow Swiss firms such as Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, to some German firms as well such as of course, A. Lange & Sohne. And of course there are independent, small watchmaking concerns such as Roger Smith and Kari Voutilainen, the quality of whose work cannot be gainsaid.

However, no company has quite the combination of virtues that Patek Philippe has offered throughout its history. It has consistently created some of the most classic, the most complicated, and the most beautiful pocket watches, wristwatches, and clocks made anywhere in the world and it has done so with an orientation towards exclusivity that few if any other companies can match. As a result Patek enjoys not only an unmatched reputation but also an ability for its watches to hold their value over time, and even to increase in value – sometimes many fold, as can be seen at auction where especially desirable vintage Pateks routinely set records and can easily run into seven figures.

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And yet in recent years, there have been signs of Patek’s reputation beginning to erode. There are for instance, examples of the company simply being more interested in making money than in making interesting watches. Its production of limited editions can easily seem like money grubbing – the limited edition watches for the anniversary of the Nautilus, with their gauche dials and the release of 600 steel so-called Pilot’s Calatravas last week are but two examples. They show signs of abandoning some of the most essential core elements of watchmaking in their insistence on incorporating silicon escapement components and balance springs, which ask nothing of the rare skills in adjusting traditional components that were for many decades an essential part of what Patek offers. They have over the last dozen years, raised prices to such an extent that it is no longer possible for entire professions that once were the core of their support, to consider buying a Patek Philippe watch without feeling as if they are being had. And perhaps worst of all, there are signs of corners cut in quality – finish, especially, it is whispered and sometimes said straight out, is no longer what it once was.

And yet just as one is ready to despair of the company upholding what gave it the reputation it still enjoys (at least for now) they do something genuinely interesting. I speak of course of the new 5531R World Time Minute Repeater. This is a truly new complication which is one of the rarest things anyone can say in watchmaking – it is a world time watch, in which the repeater mechanism (which chimes the time) is capable of chiming the time correctly in any of the 24 time zones which the user has selected as local time.

No other watch ever made has been able to do this, so it truly is an historical and technical first and it is moreover in a very attractive watch. Now, this sort of thing obviously cannot be expected every day, even from Patek Philippe but it does show a commitment to real watchmaking, which I for one had begun to wonder whether Patek really had the will to engage in. Especially in the last few years, Vacheron has seemed to pull ahead of Patek noticeably in complicated watchmaking but with the 5531R, Patek shows that when it cares to it can still do first-tier work.

But the issue is far from closed and Patek has a deep, systemic problem: it has become too easy for it to sell watches. In such a context, laziness and lack of attention to detail can become part of a company’s culture before it knows it; the next few years may prove more critical than anyone in the firm suspects, to ensuring that Patek’s reputation remains secure. Patek may make watches intended to be taken care of for the next generation, but the company would do well to imbibe a little much needed humility and remember that it needs to earn its reputation every day.

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