What is the history of the Patek Philippe watch?

Here is a brief history of Patek Philippe watches. The house was founded in Geneva in 1839 by Polish expats Antoni Patek and Franciszek Czapek. Czapek later left the firm, and, in 1845, Patek partnered with French watchmaker Jean Adrien Philippe.

Catering to the glitterati of Europe, the pair counted among their clients Tolstoy, Pope Pius IX and Queen Victoria, as well as Countess Koscowicz of Hungary, for whom they created the first Swiss-made wristwatch in 1868. They also had their eye on the American market and, in 1851, entered into an arrangement with Tiffany & Co., still in effect today. During the Great Depression, brothers Jean and Charles Stern, who had previously supplied Patek Philippe with watch dials, bought the company, and it continues to be run by the Stern family today.

Under the Sterns, the house has developed some of its most famous models, including the Calatrava, an elegantly minimal dress watch introduced in 1932 and named for the Calatrava Cross (the company’s logo since 1887), and the Nautilus, the brand’s first sports watch, conceived by legendary designer Gérald Genta in 1976. Despite the house’s longevity, it’s rumored that it has manufactured fewer than a million watches, making each one all the more coveted.

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