It’s possible that we may never know for sure when the first wristwatch was made, although that hasn’t stopped a number of Swiss brands laying claim to the production of some iteration of that ur-device. The Patek Philippe N° 27’368 is such a piece – a six line, gilt, cylinder escapement…
The burial chamber of king Tutankhamun was, it seems, saved from tomb raiders by a combination of poor memory and natural disasters. Although plundered at least twice in the years after Tutankhamun’s interment, the thieves appear to have taken only a few small objects; further incursions may have been curtailed by floods…
In 2001, Patek Philippe SA, under Thierry Stern, opened a museum in Geneva; looking back, I suppose the only surprise is that it had taken them so long. The firm started by Antoine Norbert de Patek and Jean-Adrien Philippe in 1839 took over a building belonging to Les Ateliers Reunis, a casemaker they…
