At 178 years old, Patek Philippe is a brand esteemed among watch collectors. It requires no famous ambassador; even stars who are often spotted with a Patek, like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Ed Sheeran, bought it themselves.
PATEK PHILIPPE CALATRAVA & NAUTILUS
At 178 years old, Patek Philippe is a brand esteemed among watch collectors. It requires no famous ambassador; even stars who are often spotted with a Patek, like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Ed Sheeran, bought it themselves. A Patek Philippe is of exceptional quality. Every part of the movement is entirely hand- finished.
The rules of the Patek Philippe Seal also stipulate using only Top Wesselton (fine white) colour-graded, flawless diamonds. Patek Philippe produces only 60,000 watches every year, a minuscule figure compared with the one million by other watchmakers. Aside from how exclusive the watches are, your bragging rights are upped further by the fact that Patek Philippe timepieces have among the highest resale values at auction houses like Christie’s. Case in point: a Calatrava which cost $300 in the 1950s will set you back by more than $20,000 now.
Launched in 1932, the Calatrava (far left) featured a simple, sleek silhouette with an officer-style case and straight lugs. The newest Calatrava version (Ref. 7200/200R) features 142 diamonds on its bezel that are Flamme-set – this is a Patek Philippe-registered gem-setting technique where the jeweller carefully cuts a groove in the gold between the diamonds to allow more light to shine through for greater sparkle.
This is the first time the technique has been used on a watch. The Nautilus (left) was ahead of its time. Patek Philippe launched this octagonal steel beauty in the ’70s, when many favoured round watches or those with precious metals like rose or yellow gold. Three decades on, it has grown to become one of the horological world’s most iconic and best-selling designs.
The Nautilus 7118 is Patek Philippe’s first ladies’ automatic timekeeper in steel. The ladies’ models have curved lines on the dial while those on the men’s versions are straight. Rose gold Nautilus with opaline dial, $32,700 Opposite: Rose gold Calatrava with diamonds and grained dial, 52,300.
