The Geneva watchmaker has brought more than 500 timepieces and objects to Milan for its largest WATCH ART Grand Exhibition to date. Some have rarely left the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. Others are being seen for the first time.
Opening to the public on 2 October, the exhibition takes over 2,900 square metres of CityOval, divided into 15 themed spaces spanning the current collection, historical pieces, new releases, rare handcrafts and the manufacture’s archives.
Images: Courtesy of Patek Philippe
At the opening preview, straight after seeing the pieces created for Italy, A7 Editor-in-Chief Zoya Sakr asked Thierry Stern what story he wanted to tell about Patek Philippe’s evolution.
At the opening preview, straight after seeing the pieces created for Italy, A7 Editor-in-Chief Zoya Sakr asked Thierry Stern what story he wanted to tell about Patek Philippe’s evolution.
“Patek Philippe has always evolved,” he said. Someone might first encounter the manufacture through a watch worn by their father or grandfather. Stern wants them to find something for themselves too. “They are still making watches for my grandfather and they are making watches for me.”
He added: “I would prefer to say I’m making the trend, but I’m not following it.”
Around 80 pieces have travelled from the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. Among them are its first known perpetual calendar wristwatch from 1925, a World Time wristwatch from 1948 and a pendant watch presented to Queen Victoria at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851. For the first time at a Grand Exhibition, Patek Philippe has also dedicated a space to its historical archives.
For Stern, inheriting all of this came with “a lot of responsibility”. Taking over from his father, Philippe Stern, he was conscious that “you don’t want to disappoint your clients, your partners”. He is quick to credit the people around him. “I was well surrounded with highly professional people. This is important because, alone, there is nothing you can do.”
Images: Courtesy of Patek Philippe
Throughout WATCH ART, some of those skills are performed in front of visitors. Enamellers, wood marquetry specialists, guillocheurs and gem-setters work inside the exhibition, while watchmakers demonstrate what happens inside the movements.
Asked what he would like someone to think when looking at a Patek Philippe 100 years from now, Stern started with the person wearing it: “What I hope is that people will first say, ‘I still love to wear it.'”
He wants them to still enjoy looking at the movement, and for the watchmaker repairing it to feel the same.
Surrounded by watches that have already outlived their first owners, 100 years doesn’t feel particularly abstract.
Italy appears throughout the pieces made for WATCH ART Milan. Twenty-five one-of-a-kind pieces and limited editions in the Rare Handcrafts collection take Italian culture as their starting point.
The “City of Milan” table clock maps the city in Grand Feu cloisonné enamel. Around 11 metres of gold wire trace its streets, 20 enamel colours fill them and the Duomo sits in gold at the centre.
The “Millefiori” dome clock looks towards Venice, interpreting the glassmaking technique associated with Murano through cloisonné enamel and miniature painting. Approximately 14.5 metres of gold wire trace its floral pattern. Alongside the rare handcrafts are seven limited-edition watches created for the Italian market.
The major technical introduction is Reference 5978P-010, an instantaneous perpetual calendar chronograph limited to 120 pieces. It is the first time Patek Philippe has paired its manually wound chronograph with an instantaneous perpetual calendar. The new calibre comprises 500 components.
The Italian references continue into the details. Calendar indications appear in Italian, the navy strap carries red and discreet tricolour stitching, and the sapphire-crystal caseback reads “Patek Philippe Milano 2026”.
Images: courtesy of Patek Philippe
The conversation turned towards legacy and succession, and Stern was most revealing on the subject of his son Adrien. His guidance for the night before Adrien eventually takes over is simple: listen, follow, watch how it is done.
Adrien has one advantage his father has lost: anonymity. He can move through the exhibition and hear what people actually think. Stern laughed about trying the same. Ask a retailer if they like something and the President of Patek Philippe will always hear yes. Adrien gets the less edited version, something Stern calls “the reality”.
The anonymity won’t last. For when it goes, Stern’s advice is to listen to people, travel and see the retailers. “The best advice is to listen to people and travel, to see all the retailers. You need to understand the markets. This is the key.”
WATCH ART Grand Exhibition Milan opens to the public on 2 October, giving visitors the chance to see the watches, archive pieces and crafts discussed by Stern first-hand. The exhibition runs until 18 October at CityOval in Milan.
