type private industry watch making founded 1839 patek czapek & cie. 1851 patek philippe & cie. 1 founder antoni patek adrien philippe headquarters plan les ouates ge switzerland area served worldwide key people claude peny ceo thierry stern president 2 products watches revenue 765.6 million 2013 number of employees 2 000 3 website patek.com patek philippe & co. pp is a swiss watch manufacturer founded in 1851 located in geneva and the vall e de joux . it designs and manufactures timepieces and movements including some of the most complicated mechanical watches . it is considered by many experts and aficionados to be one of the most prestigious watch brands . 4 past owners of patek philippe watches include pope pius ix queen victoria victor emanuel iii of italy christian ix of denmark . contents 1 history 2 examples 2.1 most expensive 2.2 watches owned by royalty 2.3 anniversary edition 2.4 lever escapement 3 gallery 4 see also 5 references 6 further reading 7 external links history edit polish watchmaker antoni patek started making pocket watches in 1839 in geneva along with his fellow czech partner franciszek czapek . they separated in 1844 and in 1845 patek joined with the french watchmaker adrien philippe inventor of the key less winding mechanism . patek philippe & co was founded in 1851 . patek philippe pioneered the perpetual calendar split seconds hand chronograph and minute repeater in watches . citation needed in 1935 the manufacturer was brought to american markets by new york based henri stern watch agency 5 where it was sold as a sister brand alongside universal gen ve . alan banbery who previously designed universal s compax movements and worked as a horologist for london s garrard & co would take on the position of director of sales in 1965 and later authored official reference books on vintage patek philippe pocketwatches and chronographs . in 1976 the swiss watchmaker introduced the nautilus collection after deciding that it was time to also produce an exclusive sport watch with finishes of the highest quality . the new model had a key role for patek s overall marketing strategy as it had to refresh the brand image while perpetuating tradition . the target was represented by dynamic business managers of the new generations . 6 like other swiss manufacturers the company produces mostly mechanical movements of the automatic and manual wind variety but has produced quartz watches in the past and currently does . the company even produced a digital wrist watch ref . 3414 . patek were notable for being one of 20 swiss watch companies to develop the first swiss production watch the beta 21 used by other manufacturers in watches such as the omega electroquartz watches . patek philippe is notable for manufacturing its own watch components . 3 patek philippe timepieces have recorded high prices in auctions worldwide . a large part of the demand for auction pieces is driven by patek philippe themselves as they are often purchasing in the auction market to add to the collection of the patek philippe museum in geneva . 7 8 9 in 2010 the company produced 40 000 watches . 10 according to thierry stern in 2012 they produced 50 000 . 11 the company has been owned by the stern family since 1932 and as of the late 2000s led by philippe stern and his son thierry stern who took over the reins from his father in 2010 . 10 12 examples edit most expensive edit the henry graves supercomplication was made in 1933 for the prominent banker henry graves jr. . the ultra complicated pocketwatch having 24 functions was the result of graves friendly horological competition with james ward packard . after graves death the watch was auctioned at sotheby s in december 1999 for us 11 million to sheikh saud bin mohammed bin ali al thani of the qatari royal family at that time the most expensive timepiece ever sold . 13 most recently the watch sold at sotheby s geneva auction on november 11 2014 for a record breaking us 24 million . 14 on april 10 2008 ref . 5002p sky moon tourbillon a platinum patek philippe tourbillon wristwatch made the world record as the most expensive modern wristwatch sold at hong kong sotheby s for hk 11.75 million us 1.4 million . the record was held along vacheron constantin tour de l ile wristwatch which sold at antiquorum for us 1.4 million in geneva in 2005 . 15 on may 10 2010 a patek philippe wristwatch became the most expensive to be sold at auction one must not assume the auction prices as the actual prices of watches when purchased by a swiss museum through christie s in geneva for 6.26 million swiss francs us 5.5 million . the chronograph wristwatch 16 made of yellow gold has a perpetual calendar and moonphase display and was produced in 1943 in the geneva manufacture of patek philippe . on june 7 2013 a patek philippe wristwatch reference 2499 became the most expensive to be sold online at auction when purchased by a california collector through auctionata in berlin for 471 000 euro us 611 000 . the chronograph wristwatch 17 from yellow gold has a perpetual calendar and moonphase display and was produced in 1953 in the geneva manufacture of patek philippe . watches owned by royalty edit in 1851 patek philippe started supplying its watches to queen victoria and her consort prince albert . 1 18 queen victoria acquired a key wound patek philippe watch created in a pendant style in november 1851 during the great exhibition of london . 1 18 the queen owned one more exclusive patek philippe timepiece to be worn pinned to clothing . this watch was suspended from a diamond and enamel brooch . 1 18 patek philippe clientele has included christian ix and princess louise of denmark the king and queen of denmark victor emmanuel iii of italy king of italy and duke of savoy hussein kamel sultan of egypt from 1914 to 1918 . 19 anniversary edition edit in 1989 patek created one of the most complicated mechanical watches ever made 20 the calibre 89 created for the 150th anniversary of the company . it holds 39 complications including the date of easter time of sunrise equation of time sidereal time and many other indicators . 1 728 unique parts allow sidereal time a 2 800 star chart and more . 21 the calibre 89 is also able to add a day to february for leap years while leaving out the extra day for every 100 year interval . lever escapement edit in 2005 the company introduced the silicon escapement wheel to the industry . 22 gallery edit combined chronograph and perpetual calendar moonphase wristwatch perpetual calendar and moonphase pocket watch chronograph perpetual calendar and moonphase wristwatch watch from the 1940s ref . 1543 inside watch ref . 1543 circa 1999 men s quartz calatrava in yellow gold with second hand and date 5131r 001 world time in rose gold with cloisonn enamel dial showing asia and the americas see also edit calatrava watch automatic watch franciszek czapek list of watch manufacturers references edit a b c d cf. patek philippe website official history timeline profile patek philippe hoover s database a b berman stacy june 16 2014 . patek philippe crafts its future . fortune 37 44 . michael korda 1 january 2004 marking time collecting watches and thinking about time barnes & noble publishing pp. 71 isbn 978 0 7607 3576 3 perman stacy 2013 . a grand complication the race to build the world s most legendary watch . simon & schuster . p. 220 . isbn 1439190089 . history of the patek philippe nautilus 2015 clerizo michael watch auctions time honored with their mystique brands like patek philippe can command hundreds of thousands of dollars at watch auctions the wall street journal april 29 2010 frank robert all that glitters may not be gold the wall street journal october 8 2007 patek philippe sa . patek philippe sa welcome to our official website . retrieved 24 may 2016 . a b kpmg standing the test of time pp. 16 18 in consumer currents issue 5 2008 kpmg international gmt great magazine of timepieces no. 31 spring 2013 interview with thierry stern p. 80 82 robb report . rohleder anna november 28 2001 . the most expensive watch . forbes.com . archived from the original on november 23 2010 . retrieved november 3 2007 . . webcitation archive . ariel adams 12 november 2014 . 24 000 000 patek philippe supercomplication pocket watch beats its own record at auction . forbes . retrieved 24 may 2016 . watch sets record price at hong kong auction reuters uk thursday april 10 2008 results important watches including a connoisseur s vision part ii christie s press release 10 may 2010 patek philippe reference 2499 sells online for a record usd 621k the watchlounge auction report 10 june 2013 a b c timepieces for royalty 1850 1910 by patek philippe geneva patek philippe museum 2005 . timepieces owned by kings and queens . retrieved 24 may 2016 . the 9 most important watches in the world john biggs popular mechanics the patek philippe caliber 89 . retrieved november 3 2007 . the purists.net patek philippe 2005 technical innovations . retrieved january 23 2009 . further reading edit library of reference books on patek philippe watches and company patek philippe website kepa marek watches for royalty culture.pl july 27 2015 liu ming at patek philippe the d.n.a. comes in the new york times march 17 2016 thompson joe family values patek philippe s thierry and philippe stern watchtime magazine august 8 2012 walston oliver . david and goliath lusso magazine august 8 2009 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to patek philippe & co. . patek philippe official site v t e purveyors to the russian imperial family ararat breguet chichelev chopard cristal f. meltzer & co. farina gegen ber gus khrustalny crystal factory house of faberg imperial porcelain factory khlebnikov mikimoto k kichi ovchinnikov patek philippe & co. sazikoff shustov & sons smirnoff steinway & sons stepan razin brewery tiffany & co. category authority control worldcat identities viaf 158309403 lccn n83011334 gnd 2067057 6 hds 29999 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title patek philippe % 26 co. & oldid 743969504 categories purveyors to the russian imperial familywatch manufacturing companies of switzerlandwatch brandsswiss watch brandscompanies established in 1851luxury brands1851 establishments in switzerlandhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from november 2012commons category with local link same as on wikidatawikipedia articles with viaf identifierswikipedia articles with lccn identifierswikipedia articles with gnd identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages e tinadanskdeutschespa olesperanto fran ais italiano nederlands norsk bokm lpolskiportugu srom n suomisvenska ti ng vi t edit links this page was last modified on 12 october 2016 at 09 00 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view