Patek Philippe: the past quartercentury

1991

At Sotheby’s in New York, a 1920 Patek pocket watch sells for $600,000, then the highest price paid for a watch of any kind in an American auction house.

1996

The “Generations” campaign is launched, and first features the new Annual Calendar watch, on which the date only needs changing once a year, on 1 March.

2001

In Geneva, the Patek Philippe Museum opens. It’s one of the great watch collections and also a library of more than 8,000 books and publications on the subjects of watches and time.

2014

Ten days before Christmas, the London Salon, at 16 Bond Street, reopens, almost five times larger after a nine-month renovation. It’s a fitting end to Patek Philippe’s 175th anniversary year.

2016

The iconic Nautilus range of sports watches, with an oval case inspired by a ship’s porthole, celebrates four decades in production.