The mid 1800s were a busy watch-making time in Switzerland. In 1893 in Geneva, an exiled Polish Nobleman named Count Antoine Norbert de Patek began producing watches with his compatriot Francois Czapek. The firm was named Patek, Czapek & Co. until 1845 when Czapek left the partnership. A Frenchman later joined the Patek and the company was renamed in 1851 to Patek Philippe.Philippe brought stem winding and hand-setting mechanisms to Patek's high quality watches. The pair was an instant success and they sold their watches to prominent clients including Queen Victoria of England. They earned a reputation of excellence as a result of innovative engineering advances including enhanced regulators and chronographs, and a perpetual calendar mechanism.
Thus far, Patek Philippe can claim two world-renowned accomplishments. The first was a watch made exclusively for Henry Graves Jr., a New York financier. The watch took three years to design and five years to produce. Graves and long-time competitor James Ward Park commissioned Patek Philippe to create a watch with the most complications. Complications are functions of the watch in addition to hours, seconds and minutes. After Graves died in 1953, the watch was sold to Time Museum. When the museum closed, the watch was auctioned through Sotheby's and sold to an anonymous collector for $11 million.
The second watch, known as the world's most complicated watch ever created, was completed in 1989. It was a pocketwatch and it celebrated Patek Philippe's 150th anniversary. The watch was called Caliber 89, and featured 33 functions and 1,728 individual parts. Today, vintage Patek Phillippe watches are incredibly collectible and their values continue to rise each year. A Patek Phillippe watch can be considered a marvel of engineering, and you can expect to pay for such high quality.
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