Socal to az's exclusive trip to Patek Philippe's Geneva headquarters offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of one of horology's most revered maisons. His firsthand account provides invaluable insights into Patek Philippe's manufacturing processes, allocation challenges, and efforts to combat the gray market, offering a perspective rarely seen by even the most dedicated collectors. This article distills his experiences and the community's reactions, making a 2022 forum post relevant for today's enthusiasts.
I’m on the way back from a hosted trip to Geneva with a group of great guys by my AD. We were the first group to go from The US to Geneva since the new PP6 building opened and the Covid restrictions were lifted.
This was the most epic trip I’ve ever been on in my life as a watch enthusiast as we spent the last 3 days with a small group of Patek fans seeing the entire process of making a watch from start to finish, from design to final QC.
We toured the factory (both the PP0 and the PP6 buildings). We spent time with the design team, had a chance to sit at the bench and work on some components. We visited the dial factory where every dial was made for each of the 65,000 or so Pateks produced each year.
On our trip was also members of the US sales/management team. Spent a ton of time with them and really got an appreciation for how difficult it is to allocate 65,000 watches to 1 million plus customers. If not more. No matter what they do, someone is going to be disappointed.
After realizing the difficulties, I told my AD that I wanted to-apologize for continuing to ask when my next watch is coming. Each AD has so many heavy hitters that they have to try to please, I felt bad for the times I felt entitled to get a piece. I remember how upset I felt when he didn’t give me a green dial 5711 but then realized the person sitting next to me with over 50 Pateks also didn’t get a green dial. The perspective was eye opening for me. Made me realize to just have your wish list and be patient and the pieces you want will come in good time.
I also apologized for asking him to try to get my friends an allocation. I realized they just don’t have the pieces to give out. If your AD gets a 100 watches for example and they already have 300 regular customers- what are they supposed to do with the new ones. In an ideal world you want to try to please everyone but the reality is there just aren’t enough Pateks to go around. Especially when everyone only wants a nautilus or an aquanaut to be trendy but not a calatrava because it doesn’t look as good on Instagram.
We also spent a ton of time taking about the gray market. The goal of Patek is to minimize the effects of the gray market and only have their ADs sell to legit customers as much as is in their power. They want their clients to have a great relationship with their AD and in turn Patek so the ADs that still exist they are going to go deeper with them. While impossible to shut down, Patek will buy suspicious pieces that appear on the gray market to see the serial number and if it’s found that that watch was given to a dealer and the dealer knowingly sold it to someone who they knew was going to flip the watch/ the dealer has a big problem. An example of this would be a green dial 5711 that shows up for sale soon after release. Why did that happen? Did the dealer sell it to a long time customer or did he sell it to someone new who they didn’t know their intentions? Those dealers who don’t know where their watches are going- well, maybe they aren’t going to be dealers too much longer.
Patek would like to have their clients be in it for the long haul and not a quick wham bam thank you ma’am. So for example- which is a better customer for Patek- someone who sold their bitcoin and wants to buy 6 pieces in a year and disappear only to be seen on Instagram?Or someone that adds to their collection and builds it over time, the next 30 years? I think you can figure that out.
Here are a few more random thoughts from the event in no particular order:
- They have gone from 150 us ADs to 60 in the last few years. More closings coming. See note above why.
- It’s going to become more difficult, Not easier to get a Patek.
- Every Patek is finished by hand. They could literally just crank up the cnc machines and do everything by machine but the reason it takes so long and production is so slow is that while lots of machinery is used, each piece is finished by hand. Each component is polished by hand. Each dial is fabricated by hand. This to me was the most impressive part. It really made me admire my current collection so much more.
- It takes 4-6 months to make each dial. That’s not design, that’s production of every single dial-4-6 months per dial.
- The new PP6 building is insane
- The dials are made in a separate factory away from their Geneva headquarters. Most of the dial makers do not get to see the final piece. We met a couple of the enamel dial makers and one person in my group was wearing a 5370. The dial makers just went bananas when they saw the reference in person. They had never seen the finished reference in the wild before.
- They (PAtek) don’t consider the Nautilus anything special. Infact they are just sick of the hype of the nautilus. A replacement 5711 is coming (more on that later) but they don’t want to be a one trick pony. I don’t think that is news here.
- From reading the tea leaves and not because of anything anyone said- I don’t think you are going to see what happened with the 5711 ever again. Meaning reference is gone but then a limited green dial and then an even more limited Tiffany dial. While they aren’t complaining about the hype and publicity, I don’t think the end result of pissing off a bunch of loyal clients was something they want to do again. They would rather have enthusiasts wear their watches and not necessarily rappers. My view only.
- The movement is always designed first and then the watch is designed around the that. Simple reason is a new movement is a 10 year project so you have to use what is already available.
- It took 7 years to design the 175 anniversary piece.
- They are currently working on the release of watches for a few years out. Next couple of years models are already done and ready to go.
- Expect some really interesting stuff with a couple of references this year. Maybe expect a couple brand new models? Can’t/won’t say more.
- They have the ability to repair every single watch made in the history of Patek. There is a team that will recreate and build from scratch any damaged cars r missing pieces. It fascinating to see repair work being done on an 80 year old watch. Might take a couple of years and cost thousands but they can do it.
- The Patek team (US but assuming the rest of the world as well) monitors websites like chrono 24 and others (maybe here) as they like to stay abreast of the conversation around their brand but more importantly to see any strange grey market pieces. I would not be surprised to know that they are a buyer of pieces sold on the secondary market to see where that sought after reference that everyone wants but can’t get- why is it for sale so quickly? Do not be surprised if many of the secondary pieces are not legit- meaning maybe fake, maybe an older model with a fake certificate. This really solidified my decision to only buy new and only from my AD.
The trip culminated with all of us in a confernce room where they opened the safe and literally we got to try on every single piece in the collection. Not just a couple of calatravas or aquanauts- I mean every single piece! Got lots of pics but was asked not to post. I am only posting my personal 5270 and the 5370 of one of the other visitors. But trust me- this was beyond epic.
And ofcourse the cherry on top was the final dinner. Mr. Thierry Stern joined us and we had a blast talking to him. He had just arrived from Singapore and to take time out and spend with the group was very gracious of him.
Couple of points to mention about the conversation:
He wears a 5164 when he travels. He had just gotten back from Singapore so this was still on his wrist.
His favorite watch of all time is 5970.
He (not his father) owns the museum, his father curates it.
He wants to try new things and not be boring. Look for some interesting new releases. Can’t comment more.
He is happy Nautilus is gone but replacement coming. I think this is fairly common knowledge. Lots of rumors have been floating around on this.
The new building PP6 took 6 years to design and implement.
Each minute repeater is checked by him personally before leaving for sale.
Production is not going to increase in a meaningful way. If they just machined every part, then cranking out more watches would be easy. But since there is so much hand finishing, we will be at 65,000 or so pieces for the foreseeable future.
After a week in Geneva I’m exhausted. Ready to go home. I’m Only posting pics that I can share. We were asked not to take pics inside the factory so obviously we were all respectful of that.
Oh and btw- the swag bag!! To die for!!
Enjoy the pics I am able to post.
Enjoy!
My 5270 on a yellow strap. Trying to decide what watches to take was overwhelming. Some serious horsepower in the group.
Beautiful 5370 with enamel dial.
5270 and 5960
Back of 5370
The new PP6 building
Fluckiger- owned by Patek. Where every dial is made.
Lobby of PP6
Every meal was spectacular
Took a nice set of gloves home
Lobby of original building. Me. Sterns office is just behind me
