PATEK PHILIPPE - IS PRESTIGIOUS WATCHES WHAT ROLLS ROYCE IS TO CARS

HARGA JAM NI RM400,000 TAK MAMPU BELI LE
THE PRICE OF THIS TIMEPIECE IS USD120,000

BEAUTIFUL !!!! HARGA RM300,000 SEBIJI RUMAH, KALAULAH DAPAT MEMILIKINYA
THE PRICE OF THIS PATEK IS USD75,000, I CAN BUY A HOUSE FOR THIS PRICE

MY FAVOURITE WATCH, JUST A MEMORY.... THIS WAS CONVERTED FROM POCKET WATCH WITH NEW 18K SOLID CASING AND GLASS SEE THROUGH BACK CASE

PATEK PHILIPPE & CO, SWITZERLAND

Patek Philippe & Co. is to watches what Rolls Royce is to cars— synonymous with the best. This prestigious Swiss watchmaking firm is arguably the most famous manufacturer of timepieces worldwide. To own a Patek Philippe watch remains a symbol of wealth and importance: kings and queens were their clients, while other watchmakers frantically copied them – imitation being the highest form of flattery, and moreover a means to a more lucrative sale with the help of the famous Patek Philippe signature. The Patek Philippe legend continues to grow and fascinate. The soaring prices achieved by Patek Philippe watches at auction—particularly within the last decade — prove to what degree these precious timepieces are sought-after by collectors. One collector paid $11,002,500 for a rare Patek Philippe pocket watch, thereby earning it a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Company’s Beginnings

On May 1, 1839 in Geneva, Patek and Franciszek Czapek established a business under the name of “Patek and Czapek”. Czapek, a professional watchmaker, was also a soldier in the Polish National Guard. Given their ties to the Polish community-both were involved in the Polish Independence movement and members of the “Association of Polish Emigrés in Switzerland”- Patek and Czapek had probably known each other for some time. The earliest records place Czapek in Geneva on July 31, 1832, although it is possible he arrived a year earlier. Not long after that date, he established a watchmaking enterprise with a certain Mr. Moreau, called “Czapek and Moreau”. Through Cza-pek, Patek met first Moreau, and then Moreau's niece, Marie- Adelaide Thomasine. The two became engaged, and three months short of their wedding date, Patek, Czapek, and Moreau signed an agreement establishing a new company.

Moreau and Patek each invested 8,000 Swiss francs in the company, Moreau held no official responsibilities, while Patek was responsible for the ac-counting and management. Czapek, who contri-buted tools and most likely some early machinery, was responsible for production.

Paragraph five of their agreement allotted him 100 francs monthly, in addition to his share of the profits.

During the first 14 months Patek and Czapek ran the company alone, possibly with the help of one or two workmen. They purchased unfinished movements from various companies specialized in the manufacturing of raw movements, sent them to a case maker to be cased, and then finished them in their shop. Up until July of 1840 Czapek finished all movements by himself. The company then hired one or two watchmakers to speed up the finishing process and to help cope with the delays, a problem they apparently faced in 1840. As Patek put it: “Being afraid of sustaining a loss in this new for me field, a loss which I have experienced before in the trade, I was as cautious as possible. I demanded that until July 1, 1840 all watches to be finished by Czapek himself, it lowered the expenses but also caused delays. The business allowing, two months ago (July, 1840) I increased the number of craftsmen...” Their workers, he specified elsewhere, were paid by the piece.

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.

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 Second World War, 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, Geneve, is still a family company, owned jointly by its president, Mr. Henri 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, chain smiths, 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.