Patek Philippe Grand Exhibition NYC: US Historic Room

Join Moderator Patrick_y as he takes us on a multi-part journey of the Patek Philippe Grand Exhibition.  This muti-part virtual tour of this incredible exhibition about the history of horology put on by Patek Philippe in New York City from July 13-23, 2017 at Cipriani 42nd Street.







Patek Philippe early on invested in building its marketshare in the United States.  It's strong foothold in the United States also upholds the brand in a higher light in all other countries, as the United States is often a trendsetter for the world.  The original founders heavily pursued the United States even back in the 19th century when it took 2-3 weeks to travel from Europe to the United States via boat.  One of the Patek Philippe founders was even stuck on a train between St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois due to a derailment of another train that blocked the tracks.  All the subsequent Stern family owners; Henri, Philippe, and even Thierry Stern spent a tremendous amount of time living in the United States learning how this market worked.  The most prolific customers of Patek Philippe also came from the United States, the most famous being James Ward Packard, the founder of the Packard Automobile firm (then an equivalent to today's Rolls Royce) and the American banking and railroad tycoon, Henry Graves Jr. 

But it's lesser known, that among the other elite in American society, lesser known trendsetters were also clients of Patek Philippe.  The recognition of Patek Philippe as being an technically innovative brand has always been well known among the talented, the successful, and the influential.  For this reason, Patek Philippe dedicated a room in this exhibition called the "United States Historic Room" and it's definitely another astounding piece of history not to be missed.  Here, we take a little tour of the room. 







This center timepiece was owned by Henry Graves JR. Delivered in 1926, this watch had a Sonnerie, minute repeater, perpetual calendar with date/day/month display, moonphase, and a split seconds chronograph.




The timepiece on the right here was delivered in 1928 to Henry Graves Jr. and features minute repeater, sonnerie, perpetual calendar with a retrograde date, moonphase, power reserves for both the sonnerie, and another power reserve for the timekeeping mainspring.




And Graves was also a wristwatch fan. This reference 1518 perpetual calendar Chronograph is smaller than today's 3970/5970/5270 models. Graves received this watch in 1948 in his late 70s.




Graves really was quite the collector; he also acquired these pieces in 1927, 1930, and 1947 respectively.




This is an astronomical display watch. The astronomy side on the back has a star display of the night sky above James Ward Packard's home in Warren Ohio. This watch was exceptionally beautifully engraved. And the movement featured a perpetual calendar with moonphase, sunrise and sunset, the gold minute hand is an equation of time display, and a minute repeater on three gongs! Delivered to James Ward Packard in 1927.




Left: Evening minute repeater Center: Dual Time Zone watch Right: Minute repeater, perpetual calendar with split seconds chronograph. All property of James Ward Packard and delivered between 1920 and 1922.




A pocketwatch from 1916 with an enamel of Lafayette, a French military officer who fought in the American Revolution. And a Reference 1518 delivered in 1948 to Arthur St. Germain, a bibliophile in California.




Left: A watch delivered in 1959 to Aviators; Captain Henry Shufeldt and Navigator John Larsen whom flew the first round-the-world-flight via the North and South Poles. Center: A scientific watch for the US Navy designed to be antimagnetic and for use in military expeditions of Antarctica. Made in the 1950s. Right: a quarter repeating watch made for an American in 1878.






1.  Gifted from Hery Clay Frick to architect Andrew Peebles as a gift thanking Peebles for completing the new Frick Building in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ahead of schedule.  The building is engraved on the case. 
2.  Jack Daniel of Tennessee whiskey fame owned this minute repeating watch.  The Jack Daniel distillery is the oldest distillery in the United States that's still in business.  Watch is engraved " Jack Daniel OCT-24-1903."
3.  Ralph Teetor was a blind inventor who is credited with inventing cruise control on cars.  An early forefather before Autopilot and self-driving automobiles.  He was blinded in an accident as a child and had a real necessity for striking timepieces.  This minute repeater watch was delivered in 1925, 20 years before he received his patent for his cruise control device in 1945. 









This Patek Philippe Quartz Desk Clock has three timezones and was given to John F. Kennedy during his official state visit in June 1963 to Berlin, Germany where he delivered his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. The clock displays three timezones; Washington D.C., Berlin, and Moscow; often the most critical timezones during the Cold War. 

Another great point of emphasis is to remember that a lot of these complex watches were made in an era where computer technology was not prevalent and simply didn't exist in the watch world.  Things were entirely mechanically made, sketched on paper, there was no computerized modeling, no modern benefits, no computer controlled CNC manufacturing.  This was truly a craft at such an incredibly intensive level.  Today, minute repeaters are still difficult to develop and manufacture, even with the help of computer modeling and computerized and robotic production.  Imagine making a minute repeater without that technology back in the day of Graves and Packard...

That's a taste of the United States Historic Room.  There's so much history of Patek Philippe throughout the world.  Nevertheless the United States is definitely a market with an immensely rich history that celebrates its milestones with a Patek Philippe in the background. 

Thank you for reading! 


This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2017-07-17 06:21:08