AGiftOfFlowers
142
The new movements have more complex bridge shapes than what came before
Compare 30-255 to the 315, or 31-260 to the 240. Patek started avoiding interior angles about 50 years ago.
Patek only went all-in on the Geneva seal around the 70-80s, historically it wasn't that big a deal. Pop the back off a ref. 96 or 1518 and there's a good chance it won't have the Geneva seal. You can only get the Geneva seal on movements made (mostly) in the canton of Geneva, which is why most complicated pocket watches (including the famous Graves) don't have Geneva seals, the movements were made in Vaud.
Patek's movements are still finished to the same standards, but a lot more is being done outside Geneva, they have a workshop in France that specializes in steel components (Betakron) and they do a great job. The branch in Vaud does the perpetual calendars and automatic minute repeaters.
That said, their prices have increased quite a bit while movement finishing has barely improved since the Geneva Seal days. I also have some thoughts on their hands.
Patek Philippe: Annual Production Estimates Over Time
These are contemporaneous estimates of Patek Philippe's annual production over time. Only the first two estimates (1895 and 1915) come from me, all others were pulled from newspapers, magazines, interviews, etc... ...
Robust markets,
more people with more money than sense. Stern laughing his way to the bank selling $100K uninspiring stainless steel watches. It’s a crazy world going crazier.
Peaked in the 80s
Quartz was 40% of production in 1989, now its under 25%. Probably going to keep declining relative to total.
I just received…
…my wife’s Twenty4 (however they call it) from Stern NY as it needed a new battery: $669 (without polishing which would have added to the cost).
That's in line with what I understand from my sources
I expect 2024 will yield around 74,000 units. Best, Tim
And I thought this was the waiting list time, in thousands of months
On a more serious note, seems like Patek is doing everything right. Trying to make as many customers happy as they can without ruining the brand.
Fantastic post. Extremely interesting. Thanks!!!
I remember, probably in the 1990s, when it was said that Rolex made more watches in one year than Patek made in its entire history. Those days are long gone but still Patek’s yearly production is a small fraction of Rolex’s. Best, Patekova
Interesting, thanks
Clearly PP is big business. Would be curious to know how many of these are the complications or handcrafts models. I would hazard a guess that the ‘regular’ models are coming off what must by now be *highly* automated production lines. Nothing like what R...
The new movements have more complex bridge shapes than what came before
Compare 30-255 to the 315, or 31-260 to the 240. Patek started avoiding interior angles about 50 years ago. Patek only went all-in on the Geneva seal around the 70-80s, historically it wasn't that big a deal. Pop the back off a ref. 96 or 1518 and there's...
