Patek Philippe wants to kill its greatest achievement: what’s going on

Patek Philippe & Co. is a Swiss manufacturer of luxury watches: they are among the oldest and most famous in the world.

One of the company’s slogans is “You don’t actually own a Patek Philippe. You just take care of it for the next generationThis slogan, introduced with the launch of the Generations campaign in 1996, says a lot about the prestige of the chronographs that the brand has developed: objects of immense value and above all collectibles.

Precisely for this reason, a few years ago the company decided to limit production and cut the sale of sports watches like the Nautilus to the bone. And this may all seem paradoxical, given that the Nautilus is one of the Geneva company’s greatest successes.

Founded in 1839, the brand, which takes its name from two of its founders (Anthony Patek and Adrien Philippe), decided to focus on valuables. Since the company became the property of the Stern family in Switzerland in 1932, the brand has specialized in luxury and exclusivity.

Now at Patek Philippe they plan to launch a new line of watches: nothing new has been produced since 1999. In fact, Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern revealed during the Geneva 2023 Watch and Wonder Trade Show that the brand has a desire to launch a new model line, Which is scheduled to be revealed later this year, or next year.

Patek Philippe denies Nautilus: the great Swiss brand projects

The Swiss company could not stand the fact that its best-selling watch is the Nautilus, a sports chronograph. Stern himself hinted that the brand wanted They only specialize in limited productions of great value. Therefore, it is expected that the production of stainless steel watches will decline more and more in the future.

And when Patek stopped the Nautilus reference. 5711 in 2021 did just that to try to manage all orders for Nautilus’ premium sport models. This must have greatly upset the company, which considers this iconic watch to be an inferior piece or in any case not comparable to millions of dollars worth of jewelry.

Of the ten most expensive watches in the world ever sold at auction, eight are Patek Philippe watches. In particular, the Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300A-010 and the The most expensive chronograph ever sold at auction. They overpaid him 31 million dollars! While the most valuable pocket chronograph is the Patek Philippe Henry Graves Supercomplication, the world’s most complicated mechanical watch until 1989 (it cost $24 million).