As the world's only remaining independent watchmaker, Patek Philippe is one of the most coveted brands among watch connoisseurs. Founded by Antoine Norbert de Patek and Adrien Philippe in 1839, the brand has been owned by the same family since 1932. It has made many contributions to the watchmaking world, including the first series of perpetual calendar chronograph wristwatches (in 1941) and the first automatic perpetual calendar movement (in 1962).
Many of its collections were made in limited editions of a few hundred pieces, making them rare and highly sought after in the auction market.
One of the highlights of Christie's sale of important watches on Wednesday is a Patek Philippe minute-repeating watch that is estimated to sell for between HK$1.2 million and HK$1.8 million. The watch was made to celebrate Patek Philippe's 150th anniversary in 1989. It was also the year when the president of the company, Philippe Stern (whose grandfather Charles Stern acquired the company in 1932), decided to open the brand's only museum.
Today, the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva houses about 2,000 exhibits and a library of more than 7,000 works on horology and other related subjects. Besides showcasing Patek Philippe's creations from its inception until the present day, the museum contains rare timepieces of Genevan and European origins, dating from the 16th to the 20th century, many of which belong to the private collections of the Stern family.
'My father wanted to open a museum because he's been collecting rare timepieces for 40 years and always wanted to show his collections to the public,' vice-president Thierry Stern said during a recent visit to Hong Kong for the Patek Philippe exhibition, Values of a Family Watch Company. 'My family used to make the dials and we used to supply to Patek Philippe. They didn't sell to the person with the best price. They wanted to sell to someone who could preserve their company values - to create the best watches in the world.'
The exhibition highlights some of the recent masterpieces from Patek Philippe such as Star Caliber 2000, which was launched to celebrate the millennium.
Regarded as one of the most complicated pocket watches of all time, it boasts a total of 21 complications and six patented features, including the chime, the running equation of time, sunrise and sunset indicators, sky and moon movement indicator, rapid calendar correction and the selective opening of covers.