PageDump: Patek Philippe

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!!Brand overview
----
The Patek Philippe Watch Company is one of the best known watch
manufacturers. Its watches have a reputation of highly reliable,
luxurious, complicated and, of course, beautiful watches. Even the
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin has a Calatrava model from Patek
Philippe.

This company is a member of the _Great Three Companies_ in the
branch, together with [Audemars Piguet] and [Vacheron Constantin].
Experts consider these three brands as the best manufacturers of fine
mechanical timepieces.
<br><br>

!!Brand history
----

      !!!Foundation

The year of foundation of the brand, which many collectors know today
as Patek Philippe, is 1839. The founder of the famous Swiss company
was a Polish Nobleman the name of whom was *Count Antoine Norbert de
Patek*. Being exiled from Poland together with his partner *Francois
Czapek* he started designing timepieces that were produced under the
name of *_Patek, Czapek & Co_*. This name was kept until 1845. The
year marked the leaving of Francois from the partnership.

Later the company was joined by another watchmaker originally from
France the name of whom was *Jean Adrien Philippe*. He was not only a
partner of Patek but an inventor as well. Philippe was the one to
invent the _stem-winding_ as well as the _hand setting mechanism_.
During the period between 1845 and 1851 the name of the watch-making
company was Patek & Co. When Philippe was hired as the partner of
Patek the company changed its name to *Patek Philippe*.

      !!!Inventions

The inventions of Philippe helped the company in making high-quality
mechanical [watches|Watches]. At this time among the clients there
was even _Queen Victoria_. Patek Philippe became one of the leading
companies that created mechanical timepieces in the middle of 19th
century. The two watchmakers raised the standards of watch
manufacturing to a new level. This was due to their new inventions
and technical upgrades such as: free mainspring and sweep seconds
hand. The company upgraded chronographs as well as the mechanism of
perpetual calendar.

In 1867 Patek Philippe displayed some of its mechanical timepiece at
the watch exhibition held in Paris. Its creations included functions
that further were to set the standards of mechanical complicated
timepieces of the 20th century. Among these functions there were: the
_perpetual calendar_, _repeater_ and one of the most widely used in
sports watches – the _split-seconds indicator_.

      !!!Record Breaking

Two mechanical wonders, that are considered to be the most
complicated watches, were designed by this brand. The first watch
with a very sophisticated movement was made at the beginning of the
20th century and its owner was Henry Graves Jr. The other one was
called *Calibre 89*, which is till nowadays considered the most
complicated watch in the world. The name Caliber 89 comes from the
year in which this timepiece was created – 1989. This year marked the
anniversary of Patek Philippe's 150 years of activity. The watch was
made from 1,728 parts able to display 33 complications.

The management of the company changed in 1932. Charles and Jean Stern
were the ones to take over Patek Philippe. When the world saw the end
of the Second World War, the company opened a new division of
electronic watches. In 1950's Patek Philippe pioneered the battery
powered technology used in watches. Thus it received several patents
and received many awards.

Today Patek Philippe continues to produce both mechanical and quartz
watches. Its masters of watch-making, besides producing the
traditional mechanical timepieces, design industrial and electronic
timekeepers. These show precision timekeeping and are installed in
many airports, hospitals and other public locations. Throughout its
history the company had such clients like: *Albert Einstein*, *Marie
Curie*, and *Tchaikovsky*.
<br><br>

!!Recent Collections
----
People who are already familiar with the Patek Philippe brand are
certainly also familiar with the best known collections of the
company. The best known collections produced by the brand contain in
some way simple watches, which are at the same time wonders of their
own.

Such collections as *Calatrava*, *Aquanaut*, *Gondolo* comprise
watches made both for men and for women and ever since the founding
of the company these collections are being complemented with new and
new watches.

There are however collections meant for men and for women in
particular. For example the collection *Twenty~4* has precious metals
watches embellished with diamonds. Such gift will be appreciated by
any lady.  The collections *Nautilus* and *Golden Ellipse* are
watches made for gentlemen. They combine both classical and sporty
style for men who lead an active live as well as for those, who
prefer strict classical suits.

<br>
!!See also
----
* [TAG Heuer]
* [Omega]
* [Cartier]
* [Rolex]
<br>
!!External links
----
[Oficial Site | http://www.patek.com/patek-philippe.html] - Get
familiar with Patek Philippe collections

[Mechanical, Quartz Movements and Parallel Technologies |
http://www.watch-fashion.com/index.php?page=articles&catid=8&id=17] -
Learn more about mechanical and quartz movements

[Platinum Watches - Patek Philippe Annual Calendar Chronograph |
http://www.jewelry-platinum.com/index.php?page=post&id=54] -
Description of a platinum made Annual Calendar from Patek Philippe

[Patek Philippe "Grande Complication" Watch |
http://www.cool-watches.com/patek_complic-p.html] - Find out more
about one of the most complicated wristwatches in the world.
<br>
!!Category
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CategoryBrandProfile