Patek Philippe

I have been lucky enough to be invited by Patek Philippe to visit the museum and manufacture during a 2 days trip to Geneva.

The invitation was for myself and a +1. Unfortunately, my wife could not part from work at those dates. Same with a few "watch friends" to whom I asked. Was I going to be by myself?

Remember the slogan “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.”? I decided to take it literally, and since I'm only taking care of my watches for the next generation, the next generation has to learn horology and therefore deserves a visit to the manufacture and museum. What seemed awkward is now in retrospect very obvious and makes sense: Miss DMS has already developed a strong taste for History, craftsmanship and beautiful things in general. On a few occasions, she has already been a very good counsel when it comes to selecting watches.

I'd like to share a few photos with you:

A nice box of Swiss chocolates welcomed us in the hotel room.

Patek Philippe Museum: 2000+ watches on 2 floors. One dedicated to watchmaking history, the other about Patek Philippe watches. We've learned a lot!

Aperitif and diner at the 5th floor of the Patek Salon.

Guess who is enjoying the view?

Unfortunately, the water jet was off, but still a magnificent view.

A french Chef prepared a very nice diner for our small group of aficionados.

Next morning: arrival to Patek in Plan-les-Ouates.

Wonderful decorations in the lobby.

The visit itself was exceptional. The high point being the HH department responsible for the grande complications. We were lucky enough to have a long discussion with the head of the department, and see & hear many minute repeaters including 5078 and 5178 (great to hear "normal" and "cathedral" gongs one after the other), 6002, 6300 ... along with other complicated watches.

All that made us hungry!

What a wonderful way to celebrate the first anniversary of my Nautilus.


We had the pleasure to meet Claude Peny, Patek's General Manager over lunch, who shared lots of insights about the strategy of the brand and the challenges of the watch industry in general.

My daughter, who has already assertive tastes, told him that in order to fit in my collection, my next watch had to be a very classy rose gold model, with white or light color dial, and chocolate alligator strap (because chocolate and rose gold go well together and the combination is classy). The General Manager then explained her how they get those very nice chocolate strap: apparently, they feed little girls with lots of Swiss chocolate, then throw them into the crocodile pond (only the girls that don't behave). After the alligators have eaten enough little girls, their skin turns chocolate ! LOL



Lastly, we were given the opportunity to see and try the entire collection. So many temptations that I forgot to take pictures.

I only took two, before it was too late:

This one for me. I love those Breguet indexes and hands. Too bad there is no "simpler" model in the collection with those same case, indexes and hands...


And this one for Miss DMS ;-) (in a few years maybe)

I hope you enjoyed those few pictures.

Should you have the opportunity, a visit to the Patek Museum and to the manufacture is something exceptional that you will remember for long.

I am sure I will and I'd like to thank the entire team at the Paris Patek Salon for organizing this visit and inviting me.

This has been two perfect days of watch craziness ... and I managed to make it a very nice family moment.

More posts: 507851786002complicationsgrand complicationsnautilus

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