Patek Philippe

I am from India and PP is not available here. Maybe because they feel that most Indian buy watches overseas anyways and they see no reason to appoint an AD or open a boutique. On the other hand, VC and few others have recently appointed AD's and opened boutiques and are doing well. I know VC is doing really well. While there are many Indians who buy watches overseas, many choose to buy them in India.  India is a smaller market in comparison to the US / Europe / China / HK / Singapore, so it is not an accurate comparison to these places.

Prestige is a subjective issue. I believe a brand can not have the marketing, distribution, logistics etc. and still be prestigious. Look at Aston Martin - its cars cannot hold a candle to a Ferrari an Lamborghini, yet its equally prestigious. Rolls Royce, Bentley, Ferrari were all making 'crap' until the early to late 90's, yet they had 'prestige' and were high priced. The quality, distribution, logistics, marketing all followed much later.  Similarly, Vacheron went through hell for many years, but never lost its prestige. Lange for no fault of its own got bombed in WW11 and then got consumed by the German state.  

I love PP. I think it is an awesome brand. But I have few issues with it:

- I hate the way they go on harping about being a family business and being independent. Vacheron is way older and you cannot blame them if nobody from the original family is still alive. Lange got bombed, so you cannot hold that against them. (Similarly many foreigners make fun of the US because its history is too young - I always tell them you cannot blame a country for being young.) I do not agree that they are better because they are family owned and independent.

- Their entry level pieces are now looking a bit boring and overpriced. More than the look, its the price. The opportunity cost today is simply too high. VC, Lange, FP Journe, Breguet have very amazing credible alternatives that make PP a less attractive choice. IMHO at least.

-  Maybe its just me, but I feel that ever since the son took over, the aesthetics of PP's have taken a downturn. Many of the dials are aesthetically unpleasant. Just because it is a PP does not mean it has to be accepted. I do not believe that just because it is a family business, you make your wife the chief designer. I think PP's under the father were more attractive. Many of the dials now are plain ugly.

- I believe PP's real strength still lies at the Grande Complication level where no other brand has the variety of movements and offerings.  It would be nice if they improved their overall aesthetics and made a more interesting entry-level line. How many buy minute repeaters and split seconds? But many buy time only / with / without date manual / automatic watches and with many other variations.

- And many seasoned watch collectors have told me that at the entry-to-mid level, PP finishing is lesser than Lange / VC. Why compromise here? 

- Also I believe they will systematically increase production, especially to recover the investments they have announced for their new / upgraded facility. So how do you maintain quality / finishing / exclusivity while ramping up numbers the same time?

But these issues aside, I have love and admiration for PP and its heritage.

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