Patek & Czapek produces modern watches, initially intended mainly for Polish exiles and the aristocrats who remained in the country. The pocket chronometers are inserted in casings engraved with images of famous Polish figures: Adam Mickiewicz, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Nicolaus Copernicus or Prince Józef Poniatowski. Patek & Czapek also receives numerous orders for casings with religious motifs.
1844, Paris: international success. The company showcases the watches at the world fair, significantly expanding its client base as a result.
In France, Patek meets Adrien Philippe and appoints him his technical director. Philippe is known for his invention of the crown winding mechanism: from that moment on, key-winding becomes obsolete.
After a while, the progressive Patek parts ways with the more conservative-minded Czapek. Patek invites Philippe to take Czapek’s place as his partner. Patek Philippe watches soon become known for their beauty, precision and reliability.
In the early 1840s, the company introduces an independent second hand in their watches. The real revolution, however, takes place in 1868, when the company launches the large-scale production of wristwatches. People say that Patek watches have a soul.
Since 1851, Patek gains fame as ‘the royal watchmaker’. The first royal who buys the luxury watch during the world fair in London (the company receives a gold medal there) is Queen Victoria herself. And since there is no time like the present anyway, she wears it as jewellery: pinned to her dress like a brooch. Queen Louise of Denmark, on the other hand, purchases a watch for her husband and presents it to him as a 25th wedding anniversary gift: so he’s never late again.
Patek & Philippe’s watches are sold in the best jewellery shops in Paris, London, Madrid and New York. Tsar Nicholas II becomes an obsessive collector. The long list of customers features such names as Hussein Kamel (the Sultan of Egypt), Leo Tolstoy, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Albert Einstein, Walt Disney, Pablo Picasso, Maria Skłodowska-Curie and John Paul II.