Patek Philippe is a Swiss company of luxury watchmaking.
The company was founded in Geneva in 1839 by a Polish man named Antoine Norbert de Patek and the Polish watchmaker François Czapek. Antoine Norbert de Patek had fled Poland and had arrived in Geneva. The two associates disagreed, Czapek gave up his place to the French engineer Adrien Philippe met in Paris by Antoine Norbert de Patek during an exhibition. It is this engineer who had invented the pocket watch easily remountable (by a crown) and it is also him who adapted the pantograph for the production of watches (when the company needs it). In 1932 the brand was taken over by the Stern family who still owns it. Patek Philippe is specialized in the very high-quality watchmaking. The company is one of the rare ones to have archived the data of all its clients since the beginning of its activity. They have created many novelties such as the wristwatch for women, or yet watches with winders (easy to wind up). Since 1845, it has filed more than 70 patents:
*1881: precision regulator;
*1889: mechanism of the perpetual calendar;
*1902: double chronograph;
*1949: Gyromax balance;
*1959: mechanical watches with time zones;
*1964: mechanical movement with peripheral rotor;
^1985: mechanism indicator of the Easter date;
*1996: annual calendar;
*2000: mechanism of astronomical representation.
Formerly located in Geneva, the company has regrouped all its activities in the periphery of Geneva at Plan-les-Ouates and at Perly as well as at la Chaux-de-Fonds.
To celebrate its hundred and fifty years of existence, Patek Philippe has produced in 1989 the most complicated watch in the world: the calibre 89, including 33 complications.
The total duration of the project was 9 years, including 5 years of research and development and 4 of realization. The calibre is composed of 1728 pieces, has a diameter of 88,2mm, a thickness of 41mm and a total weight of 1100 grammes.
However, its most wellknown model is the « Calatrava », a range dating back to the 30s and since declined in numerous versions. Among the other known models, one can also mention:
*Gondolo;
*Eclipse d’or;
*Nautilus. Model released in 1976 in its version called « jumbo » and in 1981 in an always automatic version but in an intermediate size.
Its designer is the wellknown Gérald Genta also known to have created for Audemars Piguet, the « Royal Oak ». Since many years, the Nautilus has been declined in chronograph and other perpetual calendars.
*Aquanaut distinguished by its dial called « television »;
*Twenty-4;
* numerous complications, among which the Star Caliber 2000.
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