Manufacture
Dje's 2009 post announcing the Patek Philippe Seal marked a pivotal moment for the brand, signaling its departure from the Geneva Seal. This article and its subsequent discussion provide invaluable historical context for understanding Patek Philippe's commitment to quality and independence. It explores the motivations behind this bold move and the community's initial reactions, offering a timeless perspective on brand standards and collector expectations.
The subject of
the drop of the Geneva Seal by Patek Philippe has been out for months now. It
is now official and we know more about what is to come, even if not all yet.
The criteria of
the Geneva Seal were observed by Patek Philippe for more than a century. These
criteria apply to the quality of finish and to some technical aspects of the
calibres. Highest quality calibres are the essence of a Patek Philippe watch. Still
the Geneva Seal requirements were apparently no longer enough for the Patek
Philippe management.
Officially
there's an excellent reason to go beyond the Geneva Seal for Patek
Philippe. The Patek Philippe philosophy of excellence goes beyond the quality
of the calibre, as the Geneva Seal does. The Patek Philippe quality must be
warranted for the whole watch, and beyond the watch for the whole service and
experience that goes with the watch.
The new Patek Philippe
Seal will cover the full watch quality through its calibre, its case, its dial,
its hands, and even spring bars, in technical and aesthetical and functional terms.
The parts are covered through their construction, but also through their
materials quality.
The accuracy
will also be tested with uncased calibres and then also with complete
wristwatches. Accuracy tests will be complemented with numerous tests and
inspections that will be documented. The Seal will have lasting effects has it
also comprises a lifetime service promise.
Who would
complain of such a complete commitment?
Furthermore Patek
Philippe is an independent company, both financially and to a large extent
industrially as a real manufacture. As an independent company Patek Philippe has
chosen "a new label that clearly expresses its very essence and
distinctiveness, a level of perfection that far transcends what external statutes
and official standards prescribe".
Isn't Patek
Philippe enough of a reference, not to rely on third party controls, especially
if these controls don't seem enough relevant anymore?
The new Patek Philippe Seal
Don't you
find that the new Seal above has a hint of Rolls-Royce fame! 
There is indeed
another excellent official reason to adopt such a new (and internal) Seal:
Horology is evolving and old techniques are not always the best solution any
longer, even if they've been so for long and numerous decades.
Patek Philippe
wants a Seal that can take into account the advances in technology. The manufacture
states that it "never stopped its quest for continuous improvements in
regards to the performance of its timepieces". So as to keep on the "constant
refinement" the Patek Philippe Seal is created as a "dynamic
quality label: its set of rules accommodates current and future developments
that are suitable for the advancement of timekeeping".
Indeed we
cannot as collectors be appealed by the Patek Philippe Advanced Research
watches and then not be keen on seeing advances applied to timekeeping that can
be allowed by the increasing and warranted seal of quality.
An advertising campaign to explain
Of course there
is possibly and probably another explanation for the creation of this Seal. This
explanation that adds to the others is not official. Patek Philippe was not the
only brand to use the Geneva Seal image to promote its watches and quality. Other
brands have very long used it for a little part of their production. There are
even brands that have just begun in the last years to use the Geneva Seal
image, in some cases for only one calibre among a large range.
This easy use
of the Geneva Seal image has quite probably diluted the aura long linked to the
Seal. I guess we can understand that with the commitment to quality and
excellence personified by the family that heads Patek Philippe, it was not
possible to standstill, it was needed and desired to "serve the company"
even more and go further.
The Seal will
be a personal commitment of the Stern family as it is personally backed by the
President and the Vice-President of the company as "Guardians of the
Patek Philippe Seal".
The seal will
be defined by a "Comite du poinçon Patek Philippe" acting as
a legislative entity that will "define the rules, adjusts to accommodate relevant
developments, and prepare strategic decisions. This Comite will in fact
consists of two: one technical and one aesthetical, but constantly
communicating.
A supervisory
authority, the Commission de surveillance, will monitor the observance of the
edicted rules and implement the new decisions. It will be completely independent
from the production side and will report to the legislative entity.
Stamped for ever
We will
hopefully see the content of the new rules very soon, as the new Seal will
start replacing the Geneva Seal this spring.
It's now
time to discuss this new Seal, isn't it?
Cheers
Dje
Yes, I can definitely see some Rolls-Royce influence there.
Geneva Seal or Patek Seal.......I honestly do not care as long as the quality of the finish is there. There are several watch companies that I admire and the, looks, quality and finish of their calibers (as well a complete watches overall) is superb - and without ANY seal .........(Lange being only one of them )
The most obvious reason, logically speaking, to opt out of the Geneva Seal is the requirement that the movements be constructed in Geneva! Will this new PP seal have the same requirement? Or is there a long term strategy to move from Geneva, for which we are seeing one of the earliest moves? Another concern with PP's motives relates to the fact that they are the largest customer for the Geneva Seal. So, if they wanted to change the criteria, I would think they'd have tremendous leverage. Had the
Please don't post pictures of this calibre, my bank account begs you!
Except without any sort of published standards or openness. In reality it is pretty much the same as the JLC 1000 hours seal, a marketing slogan based on some in-house testing with a cool logo that they tell us means quality. So I wonder who pushed PP over the edge to drop the seal, was it Cartier or Frédérique Constant cynically yours A
What the "Watch World" and its customers will make of this announcement. It should come as no surprice to any of us, as it had been rumoured for so long. I remember being told about it early last year.
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