sham1
8989
The certificate of origin
I may be acquiring a vintage Patek Philippe (you may have seen my post 2 days ago on the 1530A) and like many vintage Pateks, this watch will come with an extract from the archives. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps in 1943, Patek Philippe had not yet issued a certificate of origin for each of its watches. (allow me to live in hope until one of the Patek purist experts tells me otherwise! 
)
Does anyone know exactly when Patek started issuing a certificate of origin for its watches?
Thank you all in advance.
Best wishes,
Sham (4am in Kuala Lumpur and perpetually jet lagged )
)
The certificate of origin
I may be acquiring a vintage Patek Philippe (you may have seen my post 2 days ago on the 1530A) and like many vintage Pateks, this watch will come with an extract from the archives. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps in 1943, Patek Philippe had not y...
Héhé, no this one is not in my "papers" :p
I'm glad you had all these answers, thanks for the question Sham Best, Mark
You are most welcome Mark!
It would be interesting to know which house first started this brilliant idea of issuing a certificate or origin. Vacheron? Breguet? Patek?
Normally they will be able
I've a Patek from 1937 and all data were available. Br, Dirk
Thank you Dirk!
My hopes were dashed by the second reply! I am wondering if the certificate of origin was started when the Stern family acquired Patek in the early 1930s. Hmmmm............
Already before 1900, Pateks came with the Certificate of Origin.
The oldest Certificate I (=my wife) have is over 70 years now. Best, Kari
Pre 1900??!!
That shows incredible foresight by Patek, a brand that never fails to impress me.
my understanding is that every watch made by the company Patek Phillipe is recorded in the archive and an extract can be had
I have seen the the archive book ( before it became digital ) and it is fantastic , with date and details of each individual watch Good luck Julian
Thanks Julian!
Yes I do know that an extract from the archive can be had for every single Patek but this may not mean that every Patek was sold with a certificate of origin
Unless I am mistaking...
Patek has issued a Certificate of Origin for each watch since Day 1 (including pocket watches) that means probably as early as middle of the 1800's. However only a very very small minority of the early Pateks still can be found with their original papers ...
Merci Mike! :-)
That is pretty impressive if Patek has issued a certificate of origin since 1839 or even a few years later when Adrien Philippe joined the company. Wow, quite a wonderful idea if you ask me.
I had to call PP Geneva today to check something...
... but unfortunately could not for work reasons, and I'll call them tomorrow instead. I'll take the opportunity to ask them and let you know in case I get an answer on this point...
I don't think certificates of origin are some kind of rare, or new, thing.
I have an 1899 Lange PW with a CofO. I have seen Langes from the 1860s with CsofO. My guess would be that every watch brand had them from way, way back.
Thanks Mike :-)
I have no idea and would be quite interested to know how many brands out there issue certificate of origins with their watches since the 19th century or since their inception. My guess would be no more than half a dozen (PP, Lange, Breguet, Vacheron, Urba...
The beauty of this forum is that
every time I think I know a lot about our common passion, I am soon made to realise that I actually know very little relatively!
Always
Patek has always delivered their watches with papers of origin which also act as the warranty and proof of ownership. The document has changed over the years but essentially is the same thing.
