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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Geneva, Switzerland

Patek Philippe

Verified

High-precision and complicated watches, pocket and wrist

History

Founded by Polish émigrés in Geneva, the firm became associated with Adrien Philippe's keyless winding work and, from the late nineteenth century, with observatory-grade precision watches and highly complicated pocket watches made to individual order.

Major innovations

  • Adrien Philippe's stem-winding and setting system
  • Sustained production of grand-complication pocket watches to commission

Known markings

  • Signed dials, movements and cases
  • Geneva hallmark on selected periods

Serial numbers

The manufacturer maintains archive records and issues extracts for individual watches; archive confirmation, not an internet serial table, is the standard research route.

Collecting significance

Archive extracts, documented provenance and originality govern research. Attributions without archive support should be treated as unconfirmed.

Photographs

Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 09
Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 09 — Kamal Aboul-Hosn from Jersey City, United States, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 14
Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 14 — Kamal Aboul-Hosn from Jersey City, United States, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page
Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 15
Tiffany's Patek Philippe Watch Collection 15 — Kamal Aboul-Hosn from Jersey City, United States, CC BY 2.0. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are illustrative examples of the type, not necessarily the exact object described. Verify details against the source file page.

Sources & references

  1. Manufacturer archive practice as described in published auction catalogues
  2. Museum catalogue literature

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.