Antoni Patek – A Timeless Genius
A genius entrepreneur and an accomplished (yet humble) political activist in exile. He pioneered large-scale production of luxury watches and charmed both Queen Victoria and Walt Disney with his miniature masterpieces. It was Patek who made the world measure success in seconds.
A time of revolution
Antoni Norbert Patek comes from a noble family of the Prawdzic coat of arms, from the Lublin region. As a young man, he decides to join the army.
Patek takes part in the November Uprising. During the anti-Tsarist insurgency, he is wounded twice and subsequently promoted to Second Lieutenant of the August Cavalry Brigade. His heroic attitude earns him the Virtuti Militari Golden Cross.
In late 1831, Patek comes to France, sharing the fates of many Poles who were suspected of revolutionary activity and forced to leave the country. There, he takes up work as a typesetter. Soon after, he makes his new home in Switzerland.
In Geneva, Patek sells wines and liqueurs, and takes painting lessons from well-known landscape artist Alexandre Calame. Inspired by the Moreau family with which he becomes friends, Patek takes an interest in watchmaking.
As a novice manufacturer, Patek successfully makes use of his artistic skills and his business talents. He buys ready-made watch mechanisms, inserts them into elegant casings and sells them for profit.
In 1839, Antoni Patek sets up a company with fellow November Uprising fighter Franciszek Czapek, a Polish immigrant of Czech descent. Czapek has years of experience in watchmaking under his belt, having worked with Swiss watchmaker Moreau, whose niece Patek marries.
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Archival photograph from the watch factory Philippe & Co, Geneva, Swizterland, photo: Bettmann/Getty Images
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A soul in a watch…
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.
…a heart in Poland
Patek supports his nation’s quest for independence, actively participating in the life of the Polish émigrés. He commissions the establishment of a charity organisation known as Skarbuna Polska (‘Fund for Polish Emigrés’) and supports the founding of the Polish Library in Geneva.
Patek joins the Polish Democratic Society. He collects funds for the Polish school in Paris and helps refugees after the failed January Uprising. He often hires Polish watchmakers arriving in Switzerland from the Kingdom of Poland.
The businessman works with various Catholic organisations in Geneva and is bestowed the title of count by the Pope as a reward for his commitment. Pius IX also is a fan of Patek’s watches.
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Exhibition of a private collection of luxurious Patek Philippe & Co watches, The Art of Watches, New York, 2017, photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Surface Media
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Always on time
After Patek’s death, the company changes hands several times, but the name remains the same. Since 1929 it has belonged to the Stern family. There is also a Patek Philippe watchmaking museum in Geneva.
To celebrate its 150th anniversary, Patek Philippe creates the most intricate pocket watch in the world. Weighing over one kilogram, the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 consists of 33 separate mechanisms comprising 1,728 parts. The gold watch can display the times of sunrise and sunset, the temperature, moon phases, dates of Easter and more.
The title of the most expensive watch belongs to another Patek Philippe product: it’s the timepiece created in the 1930s for the American banker Henry Graves. The Supercomplication model is equipped with a perpetual calendar, a celestial chart for the night sky of New York City and Westminster Abbey chimes. During an auction in 2014, the watch was sold for nearly $24 million.
antoni patek
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